Brokerage login now requiring I answer these questions. Not a single one of these has a single answer I'd actually remember. They all have problems regarding what would actually count or multiple possible answers to choose from, or these are not things people would remember or they just don't apply to most people.

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[–] 90 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Just make the answers diceware passwords and store them in your password manager.

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  • [–] 47 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    This is the right answer. I never answer those, you add new entries in your password manager in the notes for the main site.

    If you answer truthfully to any one of those “security questions”, your account is at risk.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Don't add as notes, add as a new hidden option in bitwarden. Use the password maker to generate a string of crap

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    TIL about hidden options in Bitwarden, thanks!

    I of course already use the password generator to make up the random string, and often you can’t use special characters there since they expect real words as answers.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Holy shit, that's so smart. Now to see if Bitwarden can auto-fill them

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    It's unlikely since it uses the field ID and not the text, so it wouldn't know which question went with which answer.

    It's so rarely needed to actually use these anyway, that it's a non-issue IMO. You should never opt to use security questions as they are terrible from a security standpoint. This is just for when they are required by stupid websites.

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  • [–] 40 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    The best insight I remember reading about questions as MFA, is to consider the answer as a password. If you use a password manager, don't feel forced to use actually true answers. The answer doesn't have to be true, you just need to know it. Use a password manager and invent answers which you store. This is so much more secure than relying on the truth.

    Edit: others mention the same thing.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    "What's the first app you installed on your smart phone?"

    How many of these accounts can now be compromised by answering X/Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/What'sApp?

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  • [–] 41 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    So-called "security questions" like these are prohibited under various standards (there's a NIST one that I can't remember exactly, and OWASP ASVS) because they've always been really terrible at verifying it's actually you answering them, and not just someone who happens to know the answer. Mother's maiden name being the notorious example.

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago

    For security questions I usually put a random long 10 word passphrase. LPT for you guys

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  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    First partner is fine. First foreign country isnt terrible. The rest range from pretty bad to "what human thought this was a good security question"

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  • [–] [S] 20 points 1 year ago

    Yeah but first boyfriend/girlfriend drives me crazy because then I'm going back through my various early relationships trying to figure out who counts as a "girlfriend". I'd say Sherry was the first but she always said we were never really together. Well now you're a security question answer so you can't deny it anymore Sherry.

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    [–] 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Yeah, don't answer truthfully. My favorite food has been a waterslide for ages.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago*

    Doesn't need to be real answers. Can just use combo nonsense like correcthorsebatterystaple or whatever.

    But yeah, lots of other people are fucked.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    Wrong community. Extremely infuriating.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago

    One method to approach this is to use a simple personal algorithmically to create answers here. As in, you could put any security question in front of someone that uses this method, even those questions never seen, and the personal algorithm would produce an answer only the user would know. Here are a couple algorithms I made up to show an example for this post.

    Input security question (the first from OP's list): What was the first stock you ever bought?

    • Algorithm number one answer: eight - Algorithm: How many words in the security question?
    • Algorithm number two answer: sold - Algorithm: Ignore all words except the verb, in this case "bought". Whatever the verb is, the answer is always the opposite verb.

    This way you don't necessarily have to write down your security question answers. Most certainly never write down your personal algorithm. Using this method it is trivially easy for you (and only you) to produce an answer from any security question given to you and equally easy for you to reproduce the answer when you need it in the future.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    use a local password manager

    you can usually log these questions and your answers in there.

    make sure your answer has nothing to do with the content of the question.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    These questions make me feel old as hell.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Why would you answer the actual question anyway? That just means if someone knows the actual answer, they can get into your account. The question shouldn't matter. It should be treated as a secondary/tertiary/etc password.

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    [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    I always called them insecurity questions. Im almost sure its easier for someone or thing with a dossier on me to answer any of them than me.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Choose questions, write them down, place the Q's & A's in the notes of your password app. Use paper to smoke them mara-ju-anas.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Nokia 5.1 Nothing else would make any sense to use.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    pick the first three, then always punch in your own version of "none1" "none2" "none3" as the answers. This isn't rocket surgery.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Haven't you ever had places randomize the question order when you have to answer the. Later?

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Do you not get the basics of this? You're not asked to pick from all the questions when you answer the security questions in an authentication scenario.... lmao

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Do you not understand what I'm saying?

    Let's say it asks you to pick from multiple questions.

    1. X
    2. Y
    3. Z
    4. A
    5. B
    6. C

    You choose questions Y, B, and C. You answer them as none1, none2, and none3.

    When you need to answer a security question, it randomly gives you question Y. But question Y is not numbered. How do you remember that the answer to question Y is none1 and not none2 or none3?

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