Talk to your personal banker
Have you ever wondered why the “secret questions” on everything from your bank account to email account all have a certain bland quality to them? Where were you born? What was your first school? Bo-ring.
We think it’s time for question writers to get a creative and come up with some more contemporary queries. We are seeding with 10 suggestions:
* How many stock options do you have? (How many are worth anything?)
* Who was your first online date? (Which service was it through?)
* What is your World of Warcraft name?
* What was the name of your first startup?
* What is your Facebook username?
* What was your first email address?
* What is your Google Page rank?
* When was the first time (year) you used Google?
* How many IM accounts do you have?
* When was the last time you went out on a date?
Some of these certainly sound like our readers. I wonder what questions you will come up with?
The part I like is when you are encouraged not to take your password lightly. “Go to dinner, think about it, don’t be hasty. Make sure it is at least ten or fifteen characters long, and be sure to throw in some numerals and special characters– avoid all letters. Make it difficult enough that you can’t possibly remember it without writing it down, but for God’s sake, whatever you do, don’t write it down!”
THEN, after all THAT, they add, “But if you DO forget your password, just tell us the name of your dog. It’s all the same to us.”
Note: I am in no way trying to be fair this morning.
How about: How much spam do you get? 😉
I like the sites that let you create your own secret question. Seems like this would even be more secure.
How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood? Surely everybody has a uniqe opinion on that…
Was it on TWiT, John, that I heard about the guy who always has the question be “What are you wearing right now?” His answer, funny enough, is “None of your business!”
What color is an Orange? True or False.
What is the speed of dark?
Why do lesbians have a better mustache than I do?
How many pancakes can you wrap around a basketball?
Why aren’t there any black Olympic swimmers?
Where can I find a triple input woman?
Bonus question for fat guys:
When was the last year you were able to see you penis?
* What is your favorite bodily fluid?
* What is your favorite breakfast beer?
* How often do you poop?
* If you fart but you’re not there to smell it, did it stink?
Bonus duck questions (w/ correct answers)
* Why is a duck?
(Because peanut butter doesn’t come in spray cans)
* What is the difference between a duck?
(One of the legs is both the same)
How about: How many drinks did you have last night? 🙂
It’s an interesting question — what’s a good secret question that would be hard to guess or discover by Googling? Plus, of course, it has to be something you know rather than memorize and it needs to be near-universal. Yet it can’t be common.
It’s a tough one, when I think about it!
Mother’s maiden name is horrible because so much geology is on-line now.
Favorite pet’s name is better but there are too many “Mittens” and “Max”es. Plus, of course, many people don’t have a single favorite pet or a pet at all. Most “favorite” questions suffer from this.
re: Greg, “Mother’s maiden name is horrible because so much geology is on-line now.”
you’ve inspired a whole slew of new “yo mamma” jokes.
I hate those questions, I usually answer with a word from within the question. If they want multiple passwords, then cripes, ask for multiple passwords.
Studies have found that the spoofed sites that don’t have the questions, don’t deter the casual user…they just think they have logged in. Hence the don’t do any good.
#8: I bumped into one years back that asked who I lost my virginity to.
I came across that once (if you’ll excuse the expression). My answer was, “Can’t remember.”
#2
“How about: How much spam do you get?”
Mine is easy, I get no spam.
Recently I got a secret question:
What is the last name of your nearest neighbor in year 2000.
The secret question,
ISNT the problem…
Its the ANSWER, that can be interesting…
You REALLy dont need a REAL/true answer..
what is your social security Number…
Hemorrhoid(if they let you use Alpha charactors..
what is your mothers Name?
DOG/Cat/Little heifer
where did you go to school?
HELL
Where do you live?
At work
Whats the problem, or haven’t they figured this OUT yet…
Download Iron Key, store your passwords in a text file and Iron Key will keep ’em encrypted for you. Take the self extracting .exe on your thumb drive for use on anyone’s machine. Be sure to keep “eraser” on the thumb drive so you can DoD shred the text file after extraction.
Generate passwords here:
https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm
And I hate to say it, but I’ve actually seen this question and answer while at a party where the host allowed wi-fi use for the kids—
What musical instrument do you play? Skin Flute
First time I wanted to be 16 again in many years. 🙂
#7 – Where can I find a triple input woman?
Any woman can be a triple input woman. Just send her to me for training.
#11 – Mother’s maiden name is horrible because so much geology is on-line now.
What? Geology? I realize you made an honest mistake there and that you don’t actually think geology is the study of a family’s lineage… But that’s still pretty funny 🙂
#14 – #8: I bumped into one years back that asked who I lost my virginity to.
I came across that once (if you’ll excuse the expression). My answer was, “Can’t remember.”
I’m glad I’m not the only one…
“How stupid do you have to be to ever need to use password recovery?”
Chicken chicken chicken chicken ?
Chicken, chicken..
20…YES, because I dont write them down..