by Robert Robertson

Created on: January 29, 2009

How do you choose good Internet Security Questions? Email providers, such as Yahoo!, MSN and GMAIL, online banks and credit card companies, use security questions to verify your identity when you need to reset your password. As we recently learned when Sarah Palin's personal email account was hacked, the system is not perfect. So what can you do to protect yourself? If we examine how Mrs Palin's account was hacked into, we can come up with ways to help you avoid this. Quite simply, the hacker used internet search engines to find answers to her security questions. It was time consuming, but relatively simple. What can you do to protect yourself? We'll look at some common security questions and give examples of difficult to guess and easy to remember answers. The key here is to use answers that aren't factual, so they can't be figured out, but, that you'll remember. The system won't work if you can't remember them. Be creative and have fun. If you have multiple accounts try to use the same answer for each question. You want to make it difficult for hackers to guess your answers and easy for you to remember them. Do not write them down or save them anywhere on your computer. Let's start with the classic. "What is your mother's maiden name?" Yes you can use your mother's maiden name or you can use her married name, if it's different than your last name. Or, you can get creative and use something completely different. Suppose your favorite president is Abraham Lincoln. You can use Lincoln, or Abraham as your mother's maiden name. You could use a car manufacturer; Hyundai, Jaguar, Porsche, Chrysler. "What city were you born in?" You don't have to put the real answer down. Let's get creative with one. Is Paris your favorite city? How about London? Moscow? Cairo? Honolulu would be a nice place to have been born in. Did you honeymoon in Tahiti? Were your grandparents from Berlin? Just remember that you have to remember it. "What is your favorite pet's name?" You can always use your current pet's name or the name of a pet you had as a child but that could possibly be researched. A better choice would be a famous pet. Be careful not to use your favorite one. If you have a Garfield calendar on your desk, don't use Garfield. A better choice would be to use one you don't like. Or, instead of a name of a pet a type of animal, crocodile, monkey, elephant. Remember, the key here is to use an answer that you'll remember but that no one else will be able to find by searching the internet or guess because they know you.

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