In the U.S., citizens must continually hand over their social security numbers as a means of identity authentication.

But in the wake of the massive Equifax data breach, it has become clear that our social security numbers—a single identifier used in everything from our bank accounts to our health insurance profiles, and even shared with university registrars—isn’t secure.

Social security numbers were never intended to be used as general-purpose passwords. We’ll see the emergence of third-party, non-governmental providers of identity verification.

One example that’s already in the marketplace is CLEAR, the trusted traveler program that lets verified customers get through airport security faster.