Do you think companies should stop using mothers maiden name as a security question

[notedbiscuits]

This is why I believe companies should stop using MMN as security

. Your siblings - including half siblings who you share the same mother have the same MMN
. If your mother has sisters and they have children too - they also share the same MMN
. Mothers who split up with their child(ren)'s father or decide they have nothing to with the child(ren)'s father(s) usually have the same surname as the mum if the mum wants to revert back to her maiden name (if got married) and kids get surname to match their mum's - their MMN is their surname!
. Anyone can go on free websites or have a free trial to find birth registers and if you know the quarter their births are registered - can find MMN with ease.

For companies that insist on a MMN - I use a family surname which is none of the MMNs of my parents or grandparents.

I haven’t come across the mother’s maiden name for identification question in years. Everything is either two step identification. If I was expected to give my mother’s maiden name for identification purposes, I wouldn’t be particularly impressed and would question continuing with a organisation that were still implementing outdated security measures.

But they don't though. The point of the question is to pick a name, that only you would really know, to identify you.
They're not actually going to check that it's ACTUALLY your mother's maiden name.
I've always used my dad's surname without issue.

I agree, I thought this the other day as I'm married but never changed my name. Very old fashioned.

These days I don't even give my real date of birth unless I really need to. I use my godaughter's day & month which happens to be a memorable combination (like 14/02: St Valentine's Day) and I take 10 years off my age to mess with their algorithms! It's never caused me a problem, but obviously I don't do it for banks etc.

Then what’s the point of asking for if that is your solution? Why not just ask for a memorable word?

I’ve an abusive ex who fraudulently took out loans in my name.

he knew my DOB and parent maiden name

Don’t these businesses get confused when they see a person 10 years older than what they claimed?

Another reason people might not want to give this is due to abuse. If you’ve cut contact with your parents or even changed your name yourself, you might not want to divulge triggering information

GeilistheWitch
These days I don't even give my real date of birth unless I really need to. I use my godaughter's day & month which happens to be a memorable combination (like 14/02: St Valentine's Day) and I take 10 years off my age to mess with their algorithms! It's never caused me a problem, but obviously I don't do it for banks etc.

Don’t these businesses get confused when they see a person 10 years older than what they claimed?

I assume she's using the fake DoB for tv channel sign ups, loyalty cards etc.
I do the same.

@creepywoman
Well no, because they never "see" me, and don't really need to know either my dob or my age.
The fewer databases it's in, the less danger there is of a security breech.

As others have said, it’s vastly too easy for bad actors to find [& use] said information; & it’s increasingly irrelevant due to cultural shifts.

For me, not giving the correct answer wouldn’t work & just thinking about it makes me profoundly uncomfortable. I understand the logic behind it, & I understand people aren’t doing it with ill-intent or to gain anything they have no right to - but it’s still lying. I like being able to make up my own question so it has unguessability but no moral conflict.

Surely no one actually uses their mother's 'maiden name' nowadays?

Ours are nearly all essentially extra passwords, which we keep track of in a coded form. The banks etc aren't in the least fazed when we have to look them up and decode them.

It's the term 'maiden name' I find repugnant. It implies that a man's name is rightfully his whilst a woman's is an anachronistic announcement of her sexual status. If that means using their imagination to dream up a less nauseating security question then that's fine by me.

This. I generally use a random word.

It’s not whether or not we give accurate answers that is the issue.

It’s the question itself and the meaning, culture and assumptions embedded in it. Plus as many have demonstrated, the sheer inappropriateness and irrelevance.

That’s actually very clever - I might use that! 😊

My mum's maiden name was very long and double barrelled. It's a pain so I just use something else.

The last time I needed to set a security answer it had about 20 options for questions. Street you grew up, first pet, old names, what you wanted to be when you grew up, favourite book... so plenty of options

Me too, my surname is my mother’s maiden name. I’ve even had companies act like they don’t believe me!

There are always other options:

Birthplace
First car
First pet's name
First best friend's name

It's a non issue.

At least it's factual and because of that it's easy to remember. Unlike "what is your favourite xyz". Some banks insist on three questions and they don't have three factual ones.

the biggest reason is because the mother’s maiden name is decently likely to be the person’s surname.

Security questions are going the way of the do-do anyway. They only work if they are things that would never change, but can’t researched.

I don't think the OP understands that it doesn't have to be the genuine maiden name. I've never used my mother's maiden name, even when that's the question. I used a different name. Same with other security questions - I never answer the question correctly, I always use a false name, i.e. first pet's name, childhood best friend, etc etc. No one is going to check that the answer you first give when setting up security questions is actually correct.

I have my mother’s surname (by my own choice) but to be honest I don’t really think it’s an issue. My son was on the phone yesterday and as he has autism I was next to him to help if needed. They asked him the question, he looked at me and I blurted out the name I use now rather than my actual maiden name, because it’s MY mothers maiden name 🤣 Probably just as well because it’s a much more common easier to pronounce name.

I lie on all of those questions and have a key with what question I have actually answered. So I might use a siblings first name in place of mother maiden name and then first school as siblings name for example