[Cryptography] After Equifax pwning, what is the best means for replacing the SSN?

[Bayuk]

On Wed, 2017-09-13 at 20:10, Benjamin Kreuter wrote:


> Why?  Banks are more than capable of keeping track of their customers;
> social security numbers are just one of many ways that banks do so, and
>I doubt most banks would have difficulty dealing with customers not
having one.

Actually, banks do lose track of customers, and rely primarily on snailmail. You cannot legally open a bank account without a physical address (in US). There used to be a way customers could have banks hold all physical mail, but Anti-Money-Laundering requirements pretty much ended that practice. As the SSN is used to check credit, although a bank may take a deposit without SSN, they would have major difficulty making a loan without one. It is the common index for a customer across the banking system and would likely end up being replaced with another string.