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Admin
The especially pointless question aside, I really hate those kinds of security questions. Who the heck remembers the name of their third grade teacher, the first album they purchased, or the first politician they refused to vote for? (With a little effort, I could figure out who I voted for in the first presidential election that I voted in, but you could say I refused to vote for all the people running against him. Which of those was the first?) I'm sure I had several favorite toys at various stages of childhood; which one did I pick when I filled out this stupid form? Likewise the other answers that may depend on your mood when you answered the question. :rage:
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I've never liked "security" questions like that, especially since people could find out the answers without you knowing, or you might just say it in natural conversation without even remembering that you're supposed to keep it secret.
Admin
I tend to put just some more random passwords into those fields because my password manager software can store it. The only way that'd backfire is if I ever needed support by phone, but so far I've never had the urge as it's mostly "foreign" websites that do it.
Admin
Or if you somehow lose access to your password manager, but yeah, I have a few of those in KeePass, too. As far as my insurance company knows, I was born in SUsDyuUWVhjhdcRgDjLKxd. I would probably do that for this form, because I don't have an answer for any of those questions that is both memorable and secure.
Admin
Nor did the one who coded the selection for the third screenshot ...
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Updating 2 of 1
Was the second update Windows 10 by any chance?
Admin
I'm okay, nobody knows about my continued affection for Dark Side of the Moon, and I'm fairly sure that there aren't many people left in the world who remembers my membership in Mrs. Leach's class when I was 6. (To stave off confusion: school started earlier in a child's life in the UK back then than it does in the US now.) As for "the furthest I've travelled", is this as the crow flies or by route? And am I now expected not to travel subsequently?
But anyway, I think I'll take the question whose answer is very far from obvious, and my answer "Absolutely none" will never be guessed by a hacker.
Fortunately this is not a public forum, so I have breached no security considerations.
Mind, I have to confess I was surprised that one of the questions wasn't "Have you ever drunk whisky straight from the bottle?".
Admin
Admin
FILEBOTTLE_NOT_FOUNDAdmin
But that's a matter of public record.
Admin
Nobody says your answer actually has to answer the question. Just make every answer "correcthorsebatterystaple" . Tho' I did run across some idiot site where, e.g. the answer to "what year were you born" had to be a 4-digit number.
Meanwhile: how many people still know what it means to "buy an album" ?
Admin
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My magical power would be knowing the point of these security questions!
Admin
Having to sit in a boring meeting, so.... here's the only security questions you ever need to ask/answer:
Admin
When given the chance, I write a custom question like: "Security questions considered harmful?" or "Security question 1?" but sometimes that will just disapear and I end up having to choose one of the regular questions. The answer is just another password.
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Online music stores still sell music in albums, even if that album isn't on physical media.
Even music streaming services generally have albums, though these probably aren't purchased individually.
Admin
One of these perhaps?
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Quite a large number. There are a few stores around here that are selling new records. Vinyl is making a comeback.
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That's easy as long as leading zeroes are allowed. But we should put that on the agenda of the preparations for the Y10K problem.
People like Julius Cæsar otoh...
Admin
Straightforward: he just needs to answer the question "Which of your friends is most likely to backstab you?" instead.
Admin
Where do you live that you don't have anonymous ballots?
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If it's in the US, it'll just be a matter of guessing the election and guessing the candidate. It's a really rather small set.
Admin
Spy. of course.
Actually, speaking of the questions... one of my coworkers mentioned something about a third grade teacher as a security question, which makes me wonder what site that capture is from...
Admin
Well, whatever you pick for these, just be sure you remember them five years from now. :rolleyes:
These questions have a...flavor. As I read them, I was thinking, "These were created by someone in witness protection."
:rofl: I bet you never guess it again, either.
:facepalm: There's security for you.
See? I told you these were written by someone in witness protection! :smile:Admin
Any site that uses "security questions" is likely terrible at security.
Admin
Sure sure sure, but did I enter it as:
Admin
Obviously, the answer to the first question is "text". :smile:
Admin
Exactly. Which presidential election was the first one that I was old enough to vote in, who were the candidates that year (No, it wasn't George Washington :P ), and which of them would I have voted for? The second of those is a matter of public record, of course. Given my real name, my age is also a matter public record, sort of; although it is nominally somewhat protected (only certain people can get official copies of my birth certificate), it is found in a myriad of unprotected public and private records — even people here have guessed my age with sufficient accuracy to work out which presidential election would have been my first. Having established those, anyone who knows me at all would have little difficulty figuring out which candidate I would have voted for.
All that, though, is quite different from my actual vote being a matter of public record — in principle, if not in effect.
Admin
Yes. That is the thing that makes "What is your favorite ______?" questions especially bad. My favorites tend to change over time; which one did I pick when I answered the question? (Not to mention typing it again in exactly the same form. Did I use capital letters, or all lower case? If the answer is a number, did I use digits or spell it out? ...)
Admin
To me, the questions read like they were written by a pissed-off dev who knew that security questions aren't, but was ordered to add them. At least they're better than "what was your grandmother's maiden name" and shit like that which is probably information that is already known by a bunch of people and may be easily googleable to anyone else.
I do that too, but then one time I had to read the security question answer to a telephone support rep, and spelling it out letter by letter took like an hour...
It doesn't say presidential candidate... could've been one of thousands of different candidates running for congress or even a state or local government role. 'Course, the average user will probably assume you meant presidential candidate, so it's effectively not much different.
Admin
Has no one noticed that the ERROR: SUCCESS one is for a dropdown?
Admin
True. The first election I voted in was definitely not a presidential election. However, I don't even remember without looking up who was running that year who I voted for in the first presidential election that I voted in. I don't remember at all the first non-presidential election I voted in; there isn't a chance in
$place_of_eternal_punishmentof my remembering who I voted for or against.Admin
Of course hell uses PHP (or Perl).
Or maybe PHPerl I swear I thought that was a joke.
... Or Powershell.
Admin
I remember my 3rd grade teacher, who doesn't? :smile:
Admin
I know that, but does the average user know that? My point is, it's incredibly dishonest to call them "security" questions when it's actually making people less secure.
Admin
I have zero memories of your third grade teacher.
Admin
From K through 6, I had between six and eight different teachers. I think I remember the names of two of those teachers, and I am only certain about one of them. I don't think either of them were for 3rd grade.
Oh, I just remembered, at least one year we had an additional teacher who only taught music, so that makes as many as nine teachers. I am associating a name with this teacher, but my confidence in this memory is only about 20%, at best. So at the very most, I remember 3 of 7, and perhaps as few as 1 of 9, names.
Admin
Well it's a good thing I read that post sitting on the toilet.
Admin
Yeah, but "the first politician you refused to vote for" can be interpreted more than one way.
You could interpret it to mean "whichever politician was running against the person you voted for, the first time you ever voted". Few, if any, people will remember that.
Or, the more sensible way to interpret it, "the first politician you remember learning enough about that you made an informed decision to vote against him/her". "Refused" implies that there was a conscious decision on your part to not vote for that person. That's going to be a lot more memorable.
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YMMV. While I have certainly made such decisions, I cannot even begin to guess who the first one was.
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:wave:
:wave::wave:
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In my case, both interpretations are the same person.
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I remember my third-grade teacher mainly for the fact that she wasn't my kindergarten, first-, or second-grade teacher, who were all the same person (every year I got promoted, so did Miss Peurling).
I don't remember my fourth-grade teacher because I was only there for six days before they bumped me up to fifth.
Admin
PHP stands for Personal Hell Pit, didn't you get the memo?
Admin
Why do I feel like this is grammatically incorrect and should have been written as:
Or is "myriad" somehow a noun over in America when it isn't here (except by people who make it one when it isn't)?
Admin
If you google "myriad," the first result is the definition (from Google's own dictionary, I guess; the source isn't identified). Two definitions are presented: The first is as a noun; the second is as an adjective, so both usages are correct.
If you don't believe Google's dictionary, dictionary.reference.com, merriam-webster.com, dictionary.cambridge.org, and — last, but certainly not least — oed.com all present definitions as a noun, and all before also defining it as an adjective. Merriam-Webster gives this usage note:
Admin
But is it an European or an African swallow???
Admin
I remember mine, but that was because she was the scariest teacher in the school.
These security questions need a [Trigger Warning] on them…
Admin
:giggity: