Johannesburg, 24 Oct 2018
Challenge questions are those questions that you set up with your own personal answers to help Web sites know that it's you, not a hacker. This only works if you are the only one who knows the answers, says Alissa Johnson, Chief Information Security Officer at Xerox.
Most of the time, we answer our challenge questions truthfully, and other people know those truthful answers. This is how the hacker wins. Questions about your mother's maiden name, dog's name, and favourite colour are easy to answer by looking at your various social media accounts like Facebook or Instagram. Your answers can also be easy to derive from online resources, pictures, friends, etc.
Hack the hackers with these surprising security challenge question tips (hint: if you're telling the truth, you're doing it wrong).
Three quick tips to securely answer challenge questions:
1. Don't answer truthfully
No one says your challenge questions have to really apply to you, or that you have to be honest in answering them. They make these questions relevant to you, so that it is easy to remember the answer. But, it is also easy for the hacker to figure out as well. The key is being consistent. For example, if your favorite colour is pink, don't use that as an answer to a challenge question. For online purposes, use the colour blue. Just a little work in creating new answers for challenge questions can go a long way to protect your information.
2. Consider creating a different persona
Create a completely different persona when answering any questions online about yourself: use a favourite celebrity's information as yours, or your spouse's information, or create a completely different persona just for online challenge questions. The key is to be consistent so that you won't forget.
3. Put in the work
I cannot stress enough the importance of putting in a little work when creating your answers. Tips online tell you not to choose questions with hard-to-remember answers. That is a great tip to make it easy for you, but if it is easy for you to remember, it will be easy for a hacker to figure out. Put in the work to answer in a difficult manner, and then commit those answers to memory.
Bonus cyber security tip: The less your challenge questions relate to you, the possibility reduces in the amount of people who could guess that information. Just remember to commit your answers to memory.
Keep the Hackers at Bay
Product and Data Security Solutions at Xerox. Check out these security solutions videos and resources to see how we protect your valuable business information.
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