Thank you to my daughter, Jennifer, for the inspiration to this entry.
Security has become the newest PR nightmare. Everything has to have some kind of security check - even blogs, I suppose. You have to set up security questions for almost every online site when you try to join. Of course, there are security questions for your online banking. I get that - and frankly, I'm still not convinced that online banking is safe. Hey, at least I haven't gone as far as my Aunt Emma Lee who never believed anyone actually ever landed on the moon. Really though, do they actually have PROOF that that happened??
Back to security issues online. Can you actually remember the answers you put down to any of the security questions at some of these sites? I'm good with things like "Where were you born". But not so much with, "What was the name of your 1st grade teacher's favorite flavor of ice cream?" or "Who was your third cousin's best friend?". I don't think so. I could answer "What was your mother's maiden name" and even "Where was your mother born", but I do not know the answer to "What size shoe did your milk man wear?". You see where I'm going here? Some of the security questions are so secure, I don't even know the answers.
Then there are the security words that you have to type in order to even join certain groups or lists. If they were really words it would be OK, but they are made up "words" or a combination of letters and numbers. Great - bring it on. But, couldn't they at least use regularly shaped letters - why the curly ones or the ones that are hooked together so you can't tell if it's a "4" or an "h". And, don't try clicking on the thing that says, "If you can't read this word/image, click here." You just get another undecipherable "word". Believe me, I've tried it. It doesn't help.
I think they should just ask one simple question. If you can answer it, you should be smart enough to get into whichever group you are trying to join or post a comment to any blog. Here's the question: What is the meaning of life? Hint: If you said, to see how many toys I can collect before I die, you got it wrong.
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Sing it sister! Seriously, I have had to call companies b/c I can't remember the answers. Plus, things change. When I wrote the "hint" to the security question 3 years ago that says "cat's name", I owned different cat. That hint ain't gonna help me now IS IT?? Glad you got that off our chests.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Yes, I have done the same thing. The answer to every security question on "What is your pet's name" just happens to be 3 pets ago. So, the question should be, "What is the name of the pet you used for this security question." Good luck on figuring that one out.
ReplyDeleteAnd to make matters worse, when we were trying to set up an online account for Social Security, they asked "Mother's Maiden Name", which we answered. However, we kept getting an error message saying that it was not correct. Come to find out, the Social Security Department had it SPELLED WRONG. We were never going to figure that one out.