alt Hacker NewsThat is one defense for having an open system, but that only affects services who use these systems. The article doesn't mention if CashApp actually used her social to check credit, or just took the attackers' word by checking if the SS was valid and provided credit.
The other problem is that there isn't just one credit system, there are 3 major ones for general consumer credit, and other specialty ones (Innovis, etc; I had a list somewhere but can't seem to find it; AI might be a friend here).
It would be a significant improvement if full names with middle name and maiden name/name changes (if any), date of birth, and SSN were published:
Because then nobody could keep using them like they're a password, and would have to find actually secure ways of identifying people.