4 ms·

I respond with a strong password for all security questions. It created a cute incident recently when I had to verify my account over the phone by telling the

I respond with a strong password for all security questions. It created a cute incident recently when I had to verify my account over the phone by telling the phone rep that my favorite pet's name was 'o(c:Y^u=86U@4k', or whatever. I'll give the rep credit, they didn't care the answer made sense, just that it matched their screen.

ams6110 10y ago
I do that too but shot myself in the foot on one site. Somehow I did not get one of the three random "answers" recorded in my password manager. And of course THAT is the question the site is now insisting I answer. I have tried a few times hoping one of the other two questions is presented, but so far no luck.
ryan-c 10y ago
I had a bad time recently with one of those when the IVR system tried to verify my security questions. I ended up making farty sounds at it to get it to give up.
oneeyedpigeon 10y ago
I'm intrigued as to how you 'pronounced' that. Did you say "open parens" and "caret", and did they understand what you meant? Also, is having to divulge your password really the best way of verifying your account? Do they advise you to change your password immediately after going through this rigmarole?
- banana_giraffe 10y ago
  I would have rattled off something like "oh open paren sea cap why colon caret you equals" and so on. Honestly I have no idea if they parsed the sentence, or decided "gibberish from phone equals gibberish on screen .. good enough" They didn't advise me to change my security question, no doubt because the name of my favorite childhood pet isn't likely to change.
  - Vexs 10y ago
    Huh, never thought about it, but that's a pretty good argument against random security questions.
    - simbalion 10y ago
      Another good argument is: having 5 passwords is not more secure than 1 really strong password. I also think 2fa is ridiculous for 99% of applications. The widespread adoption we've seen is largely the result of developers trying to solve for user error, which as I stated in a previous comment is a waste of time and can never succeed (unless your goal is to find the flaws in your system).
bby 10y ago
damn u really f*ing up some commas and going swag

ams6110 10y ago

I do that too but shot myself in the foot on one site. Somehow I did not get one of the three random "answers" recorded in my password manager. And of course THAT is the question the site is now insisting I answer. I have tried a few times hoping one of the other two questions is presented, but so far no luck.

ryan-c 10y ago

I had a bad time recently with one of those when the IVR system tried to verify my security questions. I ended up making farty sounds at it to get it to give up.

oneeyedpigeon 10y ago

I'm intrigued as to how you 'pronounced' that. Did you say "open parens" and "caret", and did they understand what you meant? Also, is having to divulge your password really the best way of verifying your account? Do they advise you to change your password immediately after going through this rigmarole?

banana_giraffe 10y ago
I would have rattled off something like "oh open paren sea cap why colon caret you equals" and so on. Honestly I have no idea if they parsed the sentence, or decided "gibberish from phone equals gibberish on screen .. good enough" They didn't advise me to change my security question, no doubt because the name of my favorite childhood pet isn't likely to change.
- Vexs 10y ago
  Huh, never thought about it, but that's a pretty good argument against random security questions.
  - simbalion 10y ago
    Another good argument is: having 5 passwords is not more secure than 1 really strong password. I also think 2fa is ridiculous for 99% of applications. The widespread adoption we've seen is largely the result of developers trying to solve for user error, which as I stated in a previous comment is a waste of time and can never succeed (unless your goal is to find the flaws in your system).

bby 10y ago

damn u really f*ing up some commas and going swag