my online bank have just added a security feature to make their features more secure. its a 'memorable piece of information', which you get asked a number of characters from it every time you login - similar the the 'mums maiden name' or 'dads favourite garden tool manafacturer' type questions you often get. however, regardless of how memorable the piece of information is, say the location of where you first stole a kiss from that girl you fancied in class, or the time you spent lying arm in arm with the woman you love on a saturday afternoon, or how many vodkas you sunk at the album launch party of a once popular all girl band.. how on earth are you meant to remember which piece of memorable information you're using to login to access your masses of finance?
life expectancy is around what.. 75/80? maybe more.. but okay, i'm only 24, and i'm estimating.. i have maybe five or six key memories from each day, maybe up to 15 at a really exciting time. of those, i probably have four major events a year which are worthy of using as a password. so, lets say thats 96 memorable events.. less a good portion of those which between 0-4 were not particularly of great clarity.. i was busy learning how not to poo in my pants, walk and send emails... and lets raise the bar a little on what constitutes 'memorable'.. i still think there are around 20 events which i look back on with fondness. now, narrowing those down into handy typeable phrases knocks off a good percentage of them. Lets say i'm down to four key events or nuggets of info in my life which i'm willing to use to log in to my bank.
i carefully choose one of those four, enter the phrase twice into the webpage, and.. ooh, red text "Sorry, your phrase needs to contain at least one number".
oh what the f*ck? i need a memorably piece of information which contains a number too! not only have i spent the last 20 minutes shortlisting events from the last 24 years of my life, but now there are some draconian restrictions on what i may call memorable!? my bank is telling me which parts of my life are allowed to be memorable?!
okay okay.. so i run through the thought process again.. 24 years, 96 events, something with numbers attached to it... i'm thinking maybe my first mobile phone number.. i'm thinking maybe my weight at the age of 15, i'm thinking maybe... oh i just don't care anymore.. i only wanna pay my bloody rent. i think i'll go down the bank at lunch. now, whats my PIN...
life expectancy is around what.. 75/80? maybe more.. but okay, i'm only 24, and i'm estimating.. i have maybe five or six key memories from each day, maybe up to 15 at a really exciting time. of those, i probably have four major events a year which are worthy of using as a password. so, lets say thats 96 memorable events.. less a good portion of those which between 0-4 were not particularly of great clarity.. i was busy learning how not to poo in my pants, walk and send emails... and lets raise the bar a little on what constitutes 'memorable'.. i still think there are around 20 events which i look back on with fondness. now, narrowing those down into handy typeable phrases knocks off a good percentage of them. Lets say i'm down to four key events or nuggets of info in my life which i'm willing to use to log in to my bank.
i carefully choose one of those four, enter the phrase twice into the webpage, and.. ooh, red text "Sorry, your phrase needs to contain at least one number".
oh what the f*ck? i need a memorably piece of information which contains a number too! not only have i spent the last 20 minutes shortlisting events from the last 24 years of my life, but now there are some draconian restrictions on what i may call memorable!? my bank is telling me which parts of my life are allowed to be memorable?!
okay okay.. so i run through the thought process again.. 24 years, 96 events, something with numbers attached to it... i'm thinking maybe my first mobile phone number.. i'm thinking maybe my weight at the age of 15, i'm thinking maybe... oh i just don't care anymore.. i only wanna pay my bloody rent. i think i'll go down the bank at lunch. now, whats my PIN...
