[Sigia-l] secret question & answer

[Livia Labate]

Today I came across the weirdest password reminder questions ever at
http://www.united.com. I signed in to check my milleage balance but had
never used the site before, so was prompted to create an account. Here's
what I saw on the second screen of the sign up form:

    Secure access questions

    United is dedicated to providing you with secure transactions while
    utilizing united.com services. In order to provide the highest level
    of protection for your information, we ask that you answer a list of
    simple questions should there be a need to authenticate you as a
    united.com user in the future.

    One or more of these questions may be asked to verify your identity
    in the future. Please choose questions and answers that will be easy
    for you to remember. You must answer at least 3 questions, but may
    choose to answer all. If the need arises to authenticate your account,
    you will be presented with the questions you answered.

    This information is used only for the purposes of authentication and
    will not be used for marketing.

- What is the month and day of one of your parents' birthdays?
|_______|v| Month |_______|v| Day
- What is your favorite sports team name? |___________|
- What is your city of birth?  |___________|
- What was the manufacturer of your first automobile?  |___________|v|
- What is the name of the last school that you attended?  |___________|

I'm not sure how helpful these really are -- does anybody here work at
United? I think what I found most curious was question 4, but mostly because
it was a drop down with *way* too many options:

(None)
AMC
Acura
Alfa Romeo
Am General
Aston Martin
Audi
BMW
Bentley
Buick
Cadillac
Chevrolet
Chrysler
Citroen
Daewoo
Daihatsu
De Tomaso
Dodge
Ferrari
Fiat
Ford
GMC
Honda
Hyundai
Infiniti
International
Isuzu
Italjet
Microcar
Jaguar
Jeep
Kia
Lamborghini
Lancia
Land Rover
Lexus
Lincoln
Lotus
MCCMG
Maserati
Mazda
Mercedes-Benz
Mercury
Mini
Mitsubishi
Nissan
Oldsmobile
Opel
Panoz
Peugeot
Pininfarina
Plymouth
Pontiac
Porsche
Qvale
Renault
Rolls-Royce
Rover
Ruf
Saab
Saleen
Saturn
Seat
Skoda
Ssangyong
Subaru
Suzuki
TVR
Tata
Toyota
Trabant
Triumph
UAZ
Vauxhall
Volkswagen
Volvo
Yugo
ZIL


The funny thing is: I don't drive ;)


Livia Labate
liv at livlab.com | http://livlab.com | http://aifia.org