Using a Social Security Number as a password is fairly common in the US for reasons I can’t understand.

Of course this password is nowhere near random, different states get different prefixes and now:

With just two attempts, the researchers correctly guessed the first five digits of SSNs for 60 percent of deceased Americans born between 1989 and 2003.

Oddly, the solution is the old (and wrongheaded):

The new findings remind consumers that they should use caution when sharing data online

Which is a little strange considering that all that was involved in this attack is knowing the victim’s date of birth — the kind of information that has been published in old fashioned local newspapers for a lot longer than the internet has been around.