Security has just got ridiculous

[Oliversmumsarmy]

I am trying to cash in some premium bonds. I wanted to pay for my holiday etc.

I forgot one of the security questions. I pressed forgot the answer and it has now logged me out of my account and changed the password. I won’t know the password until it is sent to me in 5 working days.

My dd has just changed her bank account.

Been issued with a card reader and a customer number.

Either the customer number doesn’t work or the card reader number doesn’t.

She has given up trying to do on line banking and has now set up a new bank account.

I know security is supposed to be tight but it has got so ridiculous that it is back firing.

I feel I will need to make a note of my security details separately otherwise I will get locked out of my account.

FWIW this is the first time in about 5 years I have had to cash in PBs. I can’t remember my security questions from at least 5 years ago.

I know I probably am being unreasonable but I cannot be the only one to forget this stuff

I have certain questions set up that I can't forget eg first pet, first school, mother's maiden name etc. I have to have about twenty different highly secure log ins for work, with complex criteria for passwords (all have to be different for different systems), I use password vault, it's MOJ approved so very secure. I can only access it using my fingerprint on my phone. If you really can't remember things this might be the way forward.

It's a pain, but I think you are being a bit unreasonable because the fraudsters still keep getting in. And it hasn't really back-fired because the security measures mean that no-one else has been able to pinch your Premium Bond cash.

I now want to know what security question you forgot the answer to because they're usually pretty unforgettable things,

What was my favourite tv programme as a child.

I hadn’t a clue 55 years ago or when I set it up probably 10+ years ago so remembering a random tv programme was always going to be near impossible.

I hate all the favourite teacher, colour, tv programme ones, because I don't have favourites of anything.

Things like first school are also difficult because you won't remember whether you used Home Town School, Home Town, Home Town First School, Home Town Primary School or any other of several variables.

I have all sorts of security on different accounts. It didn’t stop someone leaving the bag with mine and thousands of others security details on a train.

I think there have been 3 breaches with different stuff over the years and each time my name and details have been on the list of stolen or lost discs etc.

You don’t have to have been lapse with your security to have someone mess your life up.

Even Experian have breached my security all by themselves. Someone with my same name. (Quite common surname) bought a house I had sold a year or so before from the people I sold to.

I had moved to a different area.

I was refused 12 months interest free credit on a computer I was buying.
Couldn’t understand why so was told to write to Experian.

Imagine my surprise to see 2 mortgages and 2 houses and my credit card bills alongside her credit card bills.

That took some working out.

This is why I don't do online banking!

YABU by the way the card reader and customer number can't be wrong. Either she's doing it wrong or she's using the wrong numbers in the wrong place etc. Weird to not just phone the bank and ask for help rather than setting up a whole new bank account. FYI unless you want fraud you need to do these things they're there for a reason.

Yes, I must admit, I think I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a favourite tv show.

You don’t have to have been lapse with your security to have someone mess your life up.

That doesn't mean we just shouldn't bother because someone else might mess up anyway.

I had one where I had to select my favourite musical instrument, my favourite song and my favourite fruit (thanks Student Loan company)

We live so far from any shops it would be a total pita.

Every time I need to run an errand it takes me 1 hour.

I was reading about how WMs have to do all the admin fitted round their jobs.

I have no idea how people do it.

I have spent umpteen hours on the phone trying to change my Broadband, claim my cash back. I seem to have landed in some sort of parallel universe where gobbledygook is English

My daughter failed the security check at O2 as she was Miss Elizabeth Surname and their records had her down as Mr Elizabeth Surname (I’ve name changed but that’s an example)
She tried to explain that she’d always been female and Miss but they would have none of it. Even wouldn’t accept that Elizabeth is a girls name anyway, not male

@pippistrelle The answer to a security question should never be the actual answer to the question (wouldn't be very secure if you did that...), so they're very easy to forget.

So you're supposed to make up a pretend favourite colour, teacher, instrument etc and then remember months or years later what your made up answer was without writing it down?

Whoever thought that was a good idea?

I was once asked for my mother's maiden name for a security question but they wouldn't accept the actual answer because, at 4 letters, it was considered too short .

I'd find it easier to answer what my favourite colour isn't. But I'm assuming Chouetted is joking.

I now want to know what security question you forgot the answer to because they're usually pretty unforgettable things,

It's easy to forget when you don't tell the truth so to speak - and you're advised not to.

Password crackers find it easy to look up your mother's maiden name via a genealogy site.

Those what's your Xname memes popular on social media are used to scrape the names of first pets, first street you lived on etc.

It’s annoying but unfortunately necessary these days.
I was the victim of identity theft over summer. And I am very very careful about my data and personal information, everything is shredded before being thrown away, I use a password generator app on my phone, I don’t keep lists of my passwords etc, my physical ID is kept locked away until I need it, I don’t have a CV etc visible online, my social media presence is minimal and no personal details beyond my name.

These fraudsters are unfortunately very clever and managed in my case (as far as me and the fraud departments of several credit card companies, mobile phone companies can tell) by finding some of my information on a government website (won’t say which one in case, but I have no control over the info being there) and the rest - who knows, they can piece together from the smallest things.

However in all of this, I knew beyond a shadow of doubt, my bank accounts, PayPal, email etc were safe. Because everything is such a hassle to sort security-wise today.

As for the fraud. It started in July and I am STILL getting it sorted. My credit rating bottomed out and it takes a long time to get the companies to remove accounts and searches. I’ve now added additional security measures to my credit reports, so will have even more passwords to remember. After my experience this year, it is well worth it. All of it.

So you're supposed to make up a pretend favourite colour, teacher, instrument etc and then remember months or years later what your made up answer was without writing it down?

er, no - just a pretend word. Or "word" - doesn't even need make sense. As long as you can remember it.

I now want to know what security question you forgot the answer to because they're usually pretty unforgettable things,

It's fine if you're given a choice of security questions to use. I've been locked out of a bank account because the question was my favourite historical character - no other option. I know who I put down, but I forgot whether I'd used his first or second name, and the system locked me out on first attempt! That's just a crazy way of working - one question you can't choose and only one chance of answering correctly.

Is there not a tipping point with security stuff, that in an attempt to be super, super secure, they force people into being less secure?

Specifically, sites that want you to have a ridiculously long/complex password - people will just end up writing it down or saving it in their phone which is surely less secure than the usual '8 characters or more, 1 capital letter, 1 number' thing?

What was my favourite tv programme as a child.

I hadn’t a clue 55 years ago or when I set it up probably 10+ years ago so remembering a random tv programme was always going to be near impossible.

I have an issue with these questions 'favourite' or 'memorable' - factual questions are fine (first school, etc), but those are subjective and I forget them and how I felt at the time I answered.

But the trick is not to give the 'right' answer. Just write 'purple' for everything (or whatever). It doesn't matter - they won't check it's not your favourite TV show etc. So, set up a system that works for you.

I admit I do have all mine in a document as well, which is itself password protected and held in a password protected system, and labelled something completely different.

er, no - just a pretend word. Or "word" - doesn't even need make sense. As long as you can remember it.

But you're told to use different answers on different websites, so you've have to remember lots of different made-up words for different banks.

I always think 'Ermmm, I'm not 6' at the favourite colour one LOL.

It is madness. They tell people they mustn't write stuff down, but when the questions are daft and/or various sites need slightly different formats of passwords I think it's naive to assume people won't either write them down or have basically the same passwords for everything.

Also Two Factor Authentication (2FA) should be considered essential on any site that has access to financial details. It's not a magic pill ( there are arcane ways some can be circumvented). But, like locking your car, it might encourage the less committed fraudster to move on to the next victim.