I thought my bank's new security questions were just annoying

My bank added a step where they ask for a random word from a phrase I set up, like the third word from my 'secret sentence'. I thought it was a hassle for no reason until a friend in IT explained it stops bots that scrape answers from social media. He said a basic script can guess your first pet's name, but not the fifth word of a custom phrase. I set mine up six months ago and honestly, it's not that bad once you get used to it. Has anyone else had a bank or site roll out something like this that you ended up liking?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.faith1mo ago

Hated the idea at first because it felt like another pointless hoop. My friend explained how it actually blocks automated attacks better than standard questions. Now I see it as a minor step for way better security.

gavin6921mo ago

Oh man, I was the same way. I'd get so annoyed clicking pictures of bikes or traffic lights. But my buddy who does IT said those simple image clicks stop like 99% of the bot spam that tries to brute force passwords. It's way harder to automate than just typing an answer. Once he put it that way, I stopped minding the extra few seconds.

the_jordan1mo ago

Yeah, that "pointless hoop" feeling is so real. I used to get mad too, like I'm just trying to log in to pay a bill, not solve a puzzle. But @johnson.faith is right, it's a trade-off. I picture some bored hacker's bot failing at a stoplight picture and it makes me smile. We give up a few seconds so they can't just walk in. Still feels silly sometimes, clicking storefronts like my opinion matters, but if it keeps my dumb passwords safer, fine.