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Another question is whether you need to guard against someone being able to determine when the same SSN is used in different records even if the number itself is not revealed.<br />
Or whether you need to guard against someone being able to verify whether or not a known SSN was in the database.<br />

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indeed so, ozo; normally that is done by salting in the case of hash algos.<br />
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really, the author needs to go into further detail about the proposed attack models he needs to defend against AND the proposed use model before an answer is possible.
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basically what do you want to be doable, and what do you want not to be doable.<br />
and if there are different people who should be able to do different things.<br />
what means are there for distinguishing them, and what resources do they have available
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I'm developing an application that needs to store social security numbers in a database. Wjhat is the best encryption to use and what should my setup from my client application to my database server look like?
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I'm developing an application that needs to store social security numbers in a database. Wjhat is the best encryption to use and what should my setup from my client application to my database server look like?

Best way to store social security numbers in database.

Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read it. In an encryption scheme, the intended communication information or message, referred to as plaintext, is encrypted using an encryption algorithm, generating ciphertext that can only be read if decrypted. For technical reasons, an encryption scheme usually uses a pseudo-random encryption key generated by an algorithm. An authorized recipient can easily decrypt the message with the key provided by the originator to recipients, but not to unauthorized interceptors.