Who thought these were good security questions?  Only two of them are established objective facts that stand a chance of being the same when you come back the next time: your first musical instrument (still subject to poor memory) and your wedding rehearsal dinner location (if timesMarried == 1).

For added security we have added a feature to our website where you type random letters until the website locks you out, then have to call us to verify your identity.

Your business is important to us and we appreciate the opportunity you've given us to help meet your financial needs.  However, our desire to increase security without increasing costs has prevented us from doing this.  Have a nice day!

djork:

 {...snip...} and your wedding rehearsal dinner location (if timesMarried == 1).

 
How rude, forgetting that apparently most of the world is divorced, or shortly will be... timseMarried >= 1
 

MarcB:

djork:

 {...snip...} and your wedding rehearsal dinner location (if timesMarried == 1).

 
How rude, forgetting that apparently most of the world is divorced, or shortly will be... timseMarried >= 1
 

What I'm saying is that if timesMarried > 1 then you have multiple answers to the question (as asked).  The safe variety would be the less idyllic sounding "where was your most recent wedding's rehearsal dinner held?"

djork:

MarcB:

djork:

 {...snip...} and your wedding rehearsal dinner location (if timesMarried == 1).

 
How rude, forgetting that apparently most of the world is divorced, or shortly will be... timseMarried >= 1
 

What I'm saying is that if timesMarried > 1 then you have multiple answers to the question (as asked).  The safe variety would be the less idyllic sounding "where was your most recent wedding's rehearsal dinner held?"

 

Unless the most recent changes between the time you sign up, and the time you need to retrieve your password...

I would say it would be safer to say your first wedding's rehearsal dinner. 

MasterPlanSoftware:

I would say it would be safer to say your first wedding's rehearsal dinner. 

And now you're suggesting that the person's [most likely] current marriage will be a total failure.  How rude!  

Although, the statistics are on your side.

 

Fun fact:  The divorce rate among Evangelicals has been as high or higher than the national average.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20071106/us_time/anevangelicalrethinkondivorce

MasterPlanSoftware:

Unless the most recent changes between the time you sign up, and the time you need to retrieve your password...

I would say it would be safer to say your first wedding's rehearsal dinner.

Great if you ask your (new) spouse to log in for you ... "Honey, remind me again about your first wedding..."

The question I hate is the one about grandparents. "What street did your grandmother live on?" Uh... most of us had *two* grandmothers (whether we knew them or not).

barfoo:

MasterPlanSoftware:

Unless the most recent changes between the time you sign up, and the time you need to retrieve your password...

I would say it would be safer to say your first wedding's rehearsal dinner.

Great if you ask your (new) spouse to log in for you ... "Honey, remind me again about your first wedding..."

The question I hate is the one about grandparents. "What street did your grandmother live on?" Uh... most of us had *two* grandmothers (whether we knew them or not).

Two? I have 4 of them... 

XIU:

barfoo:

MasterPlanSoftware:

Unless the most recent changes between the time you sign up, and the time you need to retrieve your password...

I would say it would be safer to say your first wedding's rehearsal dinner.

Great if you ask your (new) spouse to log in for you ... "Honey, remind me again about your first wedding..."

The question I hate is the one about grandparents. "What street did your grandmother live on?" Uh... most of us had *two* grandmothers (whether we knew them or not).

Two? I have 4 of them... 

I had three.  Two real grandmothers, and one unofficial one.  I used to call her Auntie-Grandma Margaret, but maybe anti-Grandma Margret would have been appropriate...

The musical instrument question also fails for those who have never learned a musical instrument and those who learned more than one at the same time initially.

My cousin being the absolute genius he is was forced to fill out a form on our internet banking site so that whenever our IPs changed the bank could ask us personal questions because we have a higher chance of not being who we say we are. Anyways, he decided to fill out all the questions with 1 for the first, 2 for the second and etc. Needless to say our DHCP IP from Telus expired. . . (we used to live in the same house btw).

We need a whole new forum for these:

Security Questions: Because RED is not an acceptable answer.

djork:

MarcB:

djork:

 {...snip...} and your wedding rehearsal dinner location (if timesMarried == 1).

How rude, forgetting that apparently most of the world is divorced, or shortly will be... timseMarried >= 1
 

What I'm saying is that if timesMarried > 1 then you have multiple answers to the question (as asked).  The safe variety would be the less idyllic sounding "where was your most recent wedding's rehearsal dinner held?"

Depending on how frequently the divorces and remarriages happen, you might still be able to have multiple rehearsal dinners before your rent on the place runs out.

/Or at least if you go back to the same time for every wedding, you can be considered a "regular" and get a discount.

Pap:

MasterPlanSoftware:

I would say it would be safer to say your first wedding's rehearsal dinner. 

And now you're suggesting that the person's [most likely] current marriage will be a total failure.  How rude!  

Although, the statistics are on your side.

 

Fun fact:  The divorce rate among Evangelicals has been as high or higher than the national average.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20071106/us_time/anevangelicalrethinkondivorce

 Well the whole reason they broke from the catholic church was that they wanted divorces, so I'm really not surprised...

"was my first instrument a sax, a saxaphone, or a saxamaphone?"

vt_mruhlin:

 Well the whole reason they broke from the catholic church was that they wanted divorces, so I'm really not surprised...

"was my first instrument a sax, a saxaphone, or a saxamaphone?"

Err, you're confusing Protestantism, with the Church of England, which was founded by Henry VIII for that purpose.. and then further confusing Protestantism with Evangelicalism (which is a demographic within Protestantism).  The CoE is a WTF in itself, claiming to be both Protestant and Catholic by some means.

djork:

vt_mruhlin:

 Well the whole reason they broke from the catholic church was that they wanted divorces, so I'm really not surprised...

"was my first instrument a sax, a saxaphone, or a saxamaphone?"

Err, you're confusing Protestantism, with the Church of England, which was founded by Henry VIII for that purpose.. and then further confusing Protestantism with Evangelicalism (which is a demographic within Protestantism).  The CoE is a WTF in itself, claiming to be both Protestant and Catholic by some means.

Hahaha, I know, I was just kidding around.  But regardless of whether it was the only reason, the fact still remains that divorces are allowed and accepted in their religion, so it's really nothing to complain about.

Number 5, or course. Because you biggest pet peeve, when asked to answer a question like this, is going to be (always) Questions Like These.

 

My answer would be, of course, 1.1 factor authentication. 

(This is one-factor authentication, IIRC. It's what you know, and what you know again.

1. What you know (Pins, ID number, most popular non-alcholic beverage etc), 2. What you have (Card or OPIE dongle), 3. Who you are (Boimetrics: Fingerprints, retinal scans, DNA extraction))
 

Pap:

MasterPlanSoftware:

I would say it would be safer to say your first wedding's rehearsal dinner.

And now you're suggesting that the person's [most likely] current marriage will be a total failure. How rude!

Although, the statistics are on your side.

In the city I live in, it's a relatively safe bet. The divorce rate is 63%.

XIU:

barfoo:

"What street did your grandmother live on?" Uh... most of us had *two* grandmothers (whether we knew them or not).

Two? I have 4 of them... 

That's pretty impressive, I think, but I'd need to know the answers to a few questions to be sure:

1.  How many mothers do you have?

2.  What species are you?

3.  And what is the value of '2' in the universe you inhabit?

DaveK:

XIU:

barfoo:

"What street did your grandmother live on?" Uh... most of us had *two* grandmothers (whether we knew them or not).

Two? I have 4 of them... 

That's pretty impressive, I think, but I'd need to know the answers to a few questions to be sure:

1.  How many mothers do you have?

2.  What species are you?

3.  And what is the value of '2' in the universe you inhabit?

 

Stop trying to glean XIU's three-factor authentication data!

djork:

Nationwide Building Society?

If not, they're using the same system. It's made all the more annoying by how good they tend to be in general.

Irrelevant:

Nationwide Building Society?

If not, they're using the same system. It's made all the more annoying by how good they tend to be in general.

 
But they are still unfailingly polite when they ask you for your mothers maiden name and you reply "Fuck-Knows".

 

 

My understanding was that maiden name is another way of saying birth name and does not necessarily mean that you were or were not married.

Besides, how many people's mothers make it through their entire life without once being married?  Or if you choose not to change your last name then your current last name == your maiden name right?

Maybe I just don't get it, but to me that seems like a very reasonable question.

ShadowWolf:

My understanding was that maiden name is another way of saying birth name and does not necessarily mean that you were or were not married.

Besides, how many people's mothers make it through their entire life without once being married?  Or if you choose not to change your last name then your current last name == your maiden name right?

Maybe I just don't get it, but to me that seems like a very reasonable question.

 

Hey, not all wives take their husbands' names.  Some husbands take their wive's names.  Like my dad, for instance. You can't really blame him, though. His name used to be Shithouse.

ShadowWolf:

My understanding was that maiden name is another way of saying birth name and does not necessarily mean that you were or were not married.

Besides, how many people's mothers make it through their entire life without once being married?  Or if you choose not to change your last name then your current last name == your maiden name right?

Maybe I just don't get it, but to me that seems like a very reasonable question.

Since you get a choice of which question to answer, there's no need for every question to be valid for every person.
If your mother never married, and you don't have any siblings, you can answer about your favorite candy.

That still doesn't make a "security" question based on public information a good choice. (Or one based on your
current opinions which can easily change)