by You don't have to even have a computer to have your data compromised. AT&T stored SSN data in customer record data. This was exposed by the news article stating that AT&T Mobility (the cellular phone branch) had customer data, including SSN and CPNI exposed when three employees of a vendor with access to the records accessed data inappropriately.
While it is good that it was caught, it is bad that it was stored in the first place. There isn't a legitimate reason for it to be stored. Even if you buy the argument that the SSN is needed for the credit check (it isn't), there is no reason to store that number after the credit check is complete.