Small Business Tech Tips

Security Questions and Answers

In part 1 of this series of articles we discussed the importance of using different and uncommon passwords, And, in part 2, we discussed ways in which you can keep track of these passwords.

In part 3, we’re going to discuss what to do about those security questions some sites ask you in order to increase you’re confidence in their ability to make sure you are you and keep your information and account safe from prying eyes.

I’m sure you’ve seen them. You sign up at a website and besides asking you for your email address and password, they ask you to answer a few simple questions. Have you ever thought about your answers to those questions?

For instance many sites ask “What is your favorite color.” If you’re like half of the world’s population, you’ll answer “blue”. Think about it. Half the world – or over 3,000,000,000 people – have the same favorite color as you. How secure do you think you’re being now by answering “blue” to that question?

And to those of you snickering right now thinking ‘Hah! I always answer “black” (or “red” or “yellow” etc.)’, not so fast. There aren’t all that many answers to this question. Even if your favorite isn’t blue, how hard do you think it will be for someone to guess what you said as your answer after the website tells a hacker that “blue” was wrong?

One suggestion, is that you pick another question to answer (if the site allows this) or answer that question with one of your favorite colors from the Crayola 64 box.

Heck, why not get creative and say something like “the color of the sky” or “indigo”? Of course you’ll have to remember what you answered so it’s best to keep it simple but not too simple.

Similarly, think about the other more common questions that sites ask and try to come up with answers that are not only unique to you but also hard for someone to know. If you’re asked “What street did you grow up on?” instead of just answering with the plain name of the street, use some of the tricks we discussed in Part 1 and substitute numbers for some of the letters (i.e. Oak Street becomes 04k Str33t).

Tell me what kind of strategies you employ in order to keep your answers to security questions – secure?

- Jim

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Read more by: Jim De Vico

Tags: Encryption, password, security, windows

This entry was posted on Monday, March 7th, 2011 at 8:00 am and is filed under Small Business Security Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.