Job Discussion Forums

[plumpy nut]

Why is it that everybody's good friend, the Saudis, require your mother's maiden name on their visa forms, the same way ISIS requires it on their application form?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/10/469918255/thousands-of-isis-documents-apparently-leaked-to-british-media?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

[scot47]

I thought Plumpo the Nut had forsaken the Saracens, Moors and Arabians ? Could it be that he is still there, in the Land of the Two Holy Mosques ?

[johnslat]

Lots of applications use that as a "security question."

"Question-based security is particularly enticing because it doesn't require mailing out equipment—like, say, random-number generators—to hundreds of thousands of users. Nor does it require spending millions to change software infrastructure. Banks have long used social security numbers and mother's maiden names to verify accounts. By comparison, an image-based or text-message-based system requires new technology, retraining call-center employees, and educating customers. Pretty much everyone has used security questions, and the concept is easy enough for even Paris Hilton to understand: Just choose a couple of answers when you sign up for an account, then regurgitate them when prompted."

Is Wells Fargo a subsidiary of ISIS. too.

Regards,
John

[sheikh radlinrol]

[quote="johnslat"]. Banks have long used social security numbers and mother's maiden names to verify accounts./quote]
I wish I had a hundred dollars for every time I´ve given my mother´s maiden name over the phone to my British bank, credit card firm etc.

[pooroldedgar]

I don't believe they are, John. If I recall, Wells Fargo long ago cast their allegience with FARC.