Password security questions in Social Networking Age

Whenever I call the bank customer care, they ask my date of birth, last 4 digits of a/c number or debit card or mother's maiden name. These days I wonder how strong these authorization controls are, as some of them can be easily taken from one's online profile.

To confirm, I took a list of common password security questions from online to check how many of those can be answered by having access to one's social networking profiles - FB/G+/LinkedIn - and not surprised - A lot of them can be answered. If the person is a contact/friend, then almost all.

My dear young cousins and elder uncles - please keep an eye on what you share on facebook/orkut/G+.

I removed some poor and obvious ones. Here goes the list:-

• What was your childhood nickname?
• What is the name of your favorite childhood friend?
• What is your oldest sibling’s birthday month and year? (e.g., January 1900)
• What school did you attend for sixth grade?
• What is your oldest cousin's first and last name?
• In what city does your nearest sibling live?
• In what city or town was your first job?
• What is the name of the place your wedding reception was held?
• What was the name of your elementary / primary school?
• What is the name of the company of your first job?
• To what city did you go on your honeymoon?
• What is your current car registration number?
• What month and day is your anniversary? (e.g., January 2)
• What is your grandmother's first name?
• What is your mother's middle name?
• What is the last name of your favorite high school teacher?
• What was the make and model of your first car?
• Where did you vacation last year?
• What is the name, breed, and color of current pet?
• What is your preferred musical genre?
• What is the name of the first undergraduate college you attended?
• What was your high school mascot?
• What year did you graduate from High School?
• What is the name of the first school you attended?
• What was your favorite sport in high school?
• What is the name of the High School you graduated from?
• What is your pet's name?
• In what year was your father born?
• In what year was your mother born?
• What is your mother’s (father's) first name?
• What is your mother's maiden name?
• What was the color of your first car?
• What is your father's middle name?

Social Networking

I gave a big surprise to my friends - I am an Orkut member now!
So, what’s big deal about it, millions scrap there?
It was a big decision for me! I am not a social networking guy. Till yesterday, I never maintained a membership in any social networking site (I tried Orkut for a week in its early, not so popular days).
I have my reasons. No, it was not that I couldn’t access it legally from office.
Recently, I had given the below reply to a friend’s invite to Tagged –
How is this special? What are the features provided?
EMail - I do not get time to maintain 2 official and 3 personal emails
Msgr- Again 2 official and 2 personal
Video- Not enough time to access youtube.
Social n/w - You know I am not a member of Orkut, Facebook and others.
So, currently I am not interested unless you give me something special about this.
- Jyothi Basu

Then is it lack of time? No, I always try to share enough time to meet friends. Then what’s the problem? Supporters of these social networking sites preach me about the numerous benefits with these sites – chief among them is I could come across a school/college/childhood friend whom I have lost touch.
a. If I am not in touch with a person, then that could be due to the fact that – either he/she or I never intended to continue the relationship.
b. If I accidentally come across a person years later, I am not sure whether I could have a relationship with the same intensity and freedom – I have changed myself so much in these years, I don’t how much that person has changed – we may or may not be able to share same ideas and thoughts.
But, on an advice from one of my engineering friends – who and I have been trying hard to reunion my engineering batch – has decided to open an account – as a majority are comfortable with it.
However, I know orkuting or online social networking could never become one of my habits, forget passion.