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Are security questions useful?
Security questions can be reasonably protective if you use them as essentially a second, strong password. But online services have trained users to enter deeply insecure security answers for years, and changing won’t be easy.
Are security questions bad?
Security questions aren’t bad in theory; it’s in practice that they start to come with strings attached. But this is something you can guard yourself against. If you’re taking security questions seriously, make them unique and don’t reuse them. Reset them if you think your account may have been compromised.
What are the common security questions?
Some of the more common security questions with answers that might sometimes be found on one’s social media pages include the following:
- What is your mother’s maiden name?
- What is the name of your first pet?
- What was your first car?
- What elementary school did you attend?
- What is the name of the town where you were born?
When do you need to answer security questions?
Some account providers have you answer several questions. When the time comes to use them, they may select one, or they may insist you answer all of them correctly. The single most common use for security questions is to recover or reset your password.
Why are security questions so special that they live on forever?
“If passwords are vulnerable why are security questions somehow so special that they live on forever?” Fenton points out that every new data breach reveals more personal information that can make guessing the answers to security questions easier, or simply allow hackers to reuse leaked security answer questions to access another service.
How to choose good security questions-ask Leo?
You choose one, answer it, and that’s the one that will get asked should it be needed in the future. Some account providers have you answer several questions. When the time comes to use them, they may select one, or they may insist you answer all of them correctly.
Are there any security questions for password recovery?
Security questions for password recovery are fundamentally insecure. But if we can’t abolish them, we can at least make our answers tough to guess. Save this story for later.