Those of us with double-barreled surnames have been keenly aware of this for quite some time.
Another thing I am surprised no one mentioned yet is mothers who didn't change their last name after marrying.
The article mentioned it.
Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
41–50 of 274 posts
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#42I give the bank a fairly obvious fake last name they could spell without asking me, since it's famously attached to a bumpkin. I get a lot of strange looks for that one. I can barely remember how to spell my mother's maiden name since it wasn't anglicized.
Interesting to note that overseas support really struggle with a lot of these security questions. So many are central to the Western world and they can't seem to spell it at all because they aren't familiar with our culture.
I never once felt like those security questions are secure at all. Some are just horrible, especially the maiden name one and birth city. Granted, the password manager works well for technical people, but it doesn't work for non techs or anyone who's had a bank account for more than ten years or so.
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#43Those of us with double-barreled surnames have been keenly aware of this for quite some time.
Another thing I am surprised no one mentioned yet is mothers who didn't change their last name after marrying.
...or whose mothers never married at all... Or people who don't even have mothers at all.
The assumption is also that your mother's maiden name is different from your own name. Which is a very questionable assumption.
We certainly show our cultural biases when coming up with these questions.
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not really any better. If a site is hacked that has your made up name, that gets published on the carder sites [1] along with your other information (email, credit card number, phone). It may not work to get a new credit card in your name, but it can be used to reset your password on some other crappy site that uses that information for "forgot password". [1] https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/12/the-market-for-…
My mother's maiden name on exactly one website is "X729gD9naatotKORNKkuV0BwSm4A8GnL". On another it's "7RQCpeaG66ffxxgEoUKwvcSZfj6hEZ3Z".
That may work in cases of online password resets, but I believe it has been demonstrated that they are not great for social engineering reasons. A hacker can just say, "oh I just mashed the keyboard for that" or worse, the agent thinks it is an error or glitch and let's the hacker in.
I think best to use a real, but different last name on all your sites.
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#45Every time I'm confronted with these types of questions I just roll my eyes and add a 'Mothers maiden name' text entry to my password manager with a 16 digit random string.
This works great until you call your bank for some reason and they ask you for your moms maiden name. Urgh, it sucks.
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#46Does anyone know the cause of the large and long standing difference in banking in US vs Europe? In europe: -for 15 or so years already, web banking has been with 2nd factor authentication (since its inception I assume). In previous decades we would get devices where you need to type numbers from its lcd screen into the webpage login. Today mobile auth apps are taking over. -I have never seen a bank have security que…
A wire transfer(IBAN/BIC transfer) is different from an ACH transfer.
ACH(EFTS in EU) in the US is generally free, but has a delay for clearing and has some mechanisms for reversal. This is primarily a digital check, and can be initiated by the receiver in that way.
A wire transfer is nearly immediate by comparison and offers almost no option for reversal. This option does usually have a fee and is generally reserved for large purchase transfers and emergency situations were verification of receipt is required. Such as buying a house. These transfers are processed via Fedwire inside the US and SWIFT out.
The guideline in the EU is that interstate can not cost more than intrastate, so most went to 0.
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#47Does anyone know the cause of the large and long standing difference in banking in US vs Europe? In europe: -for 15 or so years already, web banking has been with 2nd factor authentication (since its inception I assume). In previous decades we would get devices where you need to type numbers from its lcd screen into the webpage login. Today mobile auth apps are taking over. -I have never seen a bank have security que…
Online banking isn’t a serious attack vector for fraud, it’s just a faster-updating alternative to a paper monthly statement. 2FA is a silly red herring in these discussions. The problem is fundamentally the transaction model where you pull money from someone’s account simply by knowing some widely-shared secret numbers. These systems are sticky due to network effects. There’s no reason to sign up for an alternative…
Perversely, initiating an ACH credit is apparently seen as more risky than receiving an ACH debit. I believe this is ultimately due to the originator being responsible for any transaction that turns out to be fraudulent.
In general I think the US is comfortable to limp along putting band-aids on broken systems, because the failings are seen as being intrinsic to the "natural state" of things (see also: common law and court precedent reigning), and the losses are ultimately sustainable. The possibility of a fraudulent transaction can never be eliminated, so therefore it's whatever party facilitates/blesses the transaction that fully bears the responsibility. Meanwhile the EU doesn't seem afraid to create new foundational semantics - eg get rid of the concept of "pulling" money, and then dictate that banks cannot charge customers for the equivalent of initiating an ACH push [0].
[0] Bank of America actually charges for this. They also charge for walk-in cashing of checks drawn on themselves - meaning they are inducing their own customers to write fraudulent checks!
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#48[deleted]
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#49Every time I'm confronted with these types of questions I just roll my eyes and add a 'Mothers maiden name' text entry to my password manager with a 16 digit random string.
I shares worries I've seen expressed elsewhere that this opens up a social engineering attack vector where an imposter gets through to phone support and says "oh I just typed a bunch of gibberish for the answer and can't remember it." Wouldn't a false, long, maybe hyphenated, but plausible surname be better for this reason?
I also generate them with a password manager. FWIW, I always start with “it’s a long gibberish string” and no one has ever been satisfied with that. I’ve always had to recite it. Anecdotal I know.
Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> between european bank accounts is free Between European bank accounts in the same country. Also, not every European country, unfortunately. > paper cheques don't exist since over a decade They still do. They're very rarely used, but they can be useful for cases where you want to buy something like a car without changing the card limits.
> Between European bank accounts in the same country. Also, not every European country, unfortunately. Unless I'm mistaken, transfers in Europe are by law required to cost the same inside and out of the country. My Greek bank charges 1 euro for a transfer, no matter if the bank is in Greece or anywhere else in the EU. My German bank doesn't charge anything, and I pay my rent from my German account. > They're very rar…
> None of the banks I have accounts with ever gave me a chequebook.
We have to request them and pay a small fee for them. They aren’t typically issued when you open the account. You just receive a debit card.
Exceptions may exist. This is only my experience.