148 million victims were affected by the Equifax breach and one expert says we need to rethink how we verify identifies to keep from falling victim to these types of crisis. Social Security numbers remain the most commonly exposed piece of information, second to medical information. Security researcher Jim Stickley said the number was created for Society Security purposes, not as a form of identity verification, but it became an easy way for the U.S. to handle information using computers in the 1970s. As a solution, European country Estonia launched eID, a program that gave residents smart ID cards containing encrypted digital keys that unlock with PIN codes known only to the cardholder. The closest program in the United States is Real ID program, which standardizes the information stored on driver’s licenses and requires states to share their motor vehicle databases with one another.
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