SOLVED: A Question about setting a Secret Question

[dothebeats]

I just activated a secret question in my account and for some reason, I'm not quite sure whether I did the right thing or not, because the page simply reloaded without confirmation or whatsoever.

-Any questions in the "Secret Question" field will do, right?
-I see that the secret question that I chose was already saved in that once text box when I reloaded the page. Does that mean that the process is finished?
-Last question, why is it not recommended? Activating a secret question in my understanding means adding another layer of security in an account. But why isn't it recommended in this forum?

Anyone who guesses your secret answer will have access to your account. It's like a second password.

Does that mean that anyone who guesses the answer to the secret question will already have access to my account if he/she put it into the login text boxes? I'm kinda confused. Any reply will do. Thanks!

[1714904588]

1714904588

[1714904588]

1714904588

[ndnh]

I just activated a secret question in my account and for some reason, I'm not quite sure whether I did the right thing or not, because the page simply reloaded without confirmation or whatsoever.

-Any questions in the "Secret Question" field will do, right?
-I see that the secret question that I chose was already saved in that once text box when I reloaded the page. Does that mean that the process is finished?
-Last question, why is it not recommended? Activating a secret question in my understanding means adding another layer of security in an account. But why isn't it recommended in this forum?

Anyone who guesses your secret answer will have access to your account. It's like a second password.

Does that mean that anyone who guesses the answer to the secret question will already have access to my account if he/she put it into the login text boxes? I'm kinda confused. Any reply will do. Thanks!

I will check


Dang!!! I will remove my secret question.






Made a guess. Was wrong.


Edit: Funny. I didn't set one. (Was made more than a year ago) Probably explains why I still have this account.

[shorena]

I just activated a secret question in my account and for some reason, I'm not quite sure whether I did the right thing or not, because the page simply reloaded without confirmation or whatsoever.

-Any questions in the "Secret Question" field will do, right?

AFAIK its free text, yes.

-I see that the secret question that I chose was already saved in that once text box when I reloaded the page. Does that mean that the process is finished?

That was my guess after I saw the question safed. Showing the answer would not be a good idea.

-Last question, why is it not recommended? Activating a secret question in my understanding means adding another layer of security in an account. But why isn't it recommended in this forum?

It is not recommended if used like e.g. Paypal (still?) does:

"What was your mothers maiden name?" -> "Sand"

Thats terribly bad as a security mechanism as this can easily be brute forced or just asked with some social skills.

If you use something like this:

"What is the answer to the secret question?" -> "hHgTVFa6pFbpyq4Ryj55TEBH"

You essentially have a second password, that can be longer and more complex than your regular password.

Anyone who guesses your secret answer will have access to your account. It's like a second password.

Does that mean that anyone who guesses the answer to the secret question will already have access to my account if he/she put it into the login text boxes? I'm kinda confused. Any reply will do. Thanks!

Yes, anyone that knows the answer to the secret question can reset your password.

[dothebeats]

I just activated a secret question in my account and for some reason, I'm not quite sure whether I did the right thing or not, because the page simply reloaded without confirmation or whatsoever.

-Any questions in the "Secret Question" field will do, right?
-I see that the secret question that I chose was already saved in that once text box when I reloaded the page. Does that mean that the process is finished?
-Last question, why is it not recommended? Activating a secret question in my understanding means adding another layer of security in an account. But why isn't it recommended in this forum?

Anyone who guesses your secret answer will have access to your account. It's like a second password.

Does that mean that anyone who guesses the answer to the secret question will already have access to my account if he/she put it into the login text boxes? I'm kinda confused. Any reply will do. Thanks!

I will check


Dang!!! I will remove my secret question.






Made a guess. Was wrong.

Oh now I see. That could easily snatch up my account. But apparently, the girlfriend that I'm talking about in that secret question do not exists, because, well, I don't have a girlfriend in the first place. But seeing that the secret question can easily be cracked once you know the answer, by any chance, is there any way to reset it? Or is there a limit on guesses before they'll send you an email?

[ndnh]

I just activated a secret question in my account and for some reason, I'm not quite sure whether I did the right thing or not, because the page simply reloaded without confirmation or whatsoever.

-Any questions in the "Secret Question" field will do, right?
-I see that the secret question that I chose was already saved in that once text box when I reloaded the page. Does that mean that the process is finished?
-Last question, why is it not recommended? Activating a secret question in my understanding means adding another layer of security in an account. But why isn't it recommended in this forum?

Anyone who guesses your secret answer will have access to your account. It's like a second password.

Does that mean that anyone who guesses the answer to the secret question will already have access to my account if he/she put it into the login text boxes? I'm kinda confused. Any reply will do. Thanks!

I will check


Dang!!! I will remove my secret question.






Made a guess. Was wrong.

Oh now I see. That could easily snatch up my account. But apparently, the girlfriend that I'm talking about in that secret question do not exists, because, well, I don't have a girlfriend in the first place. But seeing that the secret question can easily be cracked once you know the answer, by any chance, is there any way to reset it? Or is there a limit on guesses before they'll send you an email?

lol. Guess what I exactly typed in?

"I don't have a girlfriend." Yes. Exactly.

Didn't work.

P.S. It can be reset by email alone or by answering the question alone. I don't how many tries possible tho.

[shorena]

AFAIK you can just put a new answer/question in. Use something like diceware to randomly generate a password and write it down somewhere safe.

[dothebeats]

I just activated a secret question in my account and for some reason, I'm not quite sure whether I did the right thing or not, because the page simply reloaded without confirmation or whatsoever.

-Any questions in the "Secret Question" field will do, right?
-I see that the secret question that I chose was already saved in that once text box when I reloaded the page. Does that mean that the process is finished?
-Last question, why is it not recommended? Activating a secret question in my understanding means adding another layer of security in an account. But why isn't it recommended in this forum?

Anyone who guesses your secret answer will have access to your account. It's like a second password.

Does that mean that anyone who guesses the answer to the secret question will already have access to my account if he/she put it into the login text boxes? I'm kinda confused. Any reply will do. Thanks!

I will check


Dang!!! I will remove my secret question.






Made a guess. Was wrong.

Oh now I see. That could easily snatch up my account. But apparently, the girlfriend that I'm talking about in that secret question do not exists, because, well, I don't have a girlfriend in the first place. But seeing that the secret question can easily be cracked once you know the answer, by any chance, is there any way to reset it? Or is there a limit on guesses before they'll send you an email?

lol. Guess what I exactly typed in?

"I don't have a girlfriend." Yes. Exactly.

Didn't work.

Lol of course it wouldn't work! Again, is there any way to reset it? And are there any limits to how many guesses you can make?

I just activated a secret question in my account and for some reason, I'm not quite sure whether I did the right thing or not, because the page simply reloaded without confirmation or whatsoever.

-Any questions in the "Secret Question" field will do, right?

AFAIK its free text, yes.

-I see that the secret question that I chose was already saved in that once text box when I reloaded the page. Does that mean that the process is finished?

That was my guess after I saw the question safed. Showing the answer would not be a good idea.

-Last question, why is it not recommended? Activating a secret question in my understanding means adding another layer of security in an account. But why isn't it recommended in this forum?

It is not recommended if used like e.g. Paypal (still?) does:

"What was your mothers maiden name?" -> "Sand"

Thats terribly bad as a security mechanism as this can easily be brute forced or just asked with some social skills.

If you use something like this:

"What is the answer to the secret question?" -> "hHgTVFa6pFbpyq4Ryj55TEBH"

You essentially have a second password, that can be longer and more complex than your regular password.

Anyone who guesses your secret answer will have access to your account. It's like a second password.

Does that mean that anyone who guesses the answer to the secret question will already have access to my account if he/she put it into the login text boxes? I'm kinda confused. Any reply will do. Thanks!

Yes, anyone that knows the answer to the secret question can reset your password.

The answer that I put is pretty much complex if you might ask me. Unintelligible, I might say. Thanks for reminding me that the secret answer should as complex as possible so as to avoid being hacked by somebody.

[ndnh]

The answer that I put is pretty much complex if you might ask me. Unintelligible, I might say. Thanks for reminding me that the secret answer should as complex as possible so as to avoid being hacked by somebody.

Why don't you just remove it instead?

I am assuming you store the 'complex' password somewhere?

[Muhammed Zakir]

I guess there isn't any limit. I tried 5-6 times but didn't find get any time limit or warning.

Resetting your secret question:

• If you don't want to set secret question, make the secret question field blank in sertings, type your password and click update.
• To change your secret question, change question in secret question field & type answer and click update.

[JarvisTechnology]

People can just bypass your password a security question is normally weaker so I would either have random letters in it to act as a 2nd password or just dont have one.

[dothebeats]

The answer that I put is pretty much complex if you might ask me. Unintelligible, I might say. Thanks for reminding me that the secret answer should as complex as possible so as to avoid being hacked by somebody.

Why don't you just remove it instead?

I am assuming you store the 'complex' password somewhere?

Yup. The answer is stored safely. Also, thanks for the idea that I can remove the security question and the answer as well.

I guess there isn't any limit. I tried 5-6 times but didn't find get any time limit or warning.

Resetting your secret question:

• If you don't want to set secret question, make the secret question field blank in sertings, type your password and click update.
• To change your secret question, change question in secret question field & type answer and click update.

Thanks Muhammed Zakir for the great reply. It greatly helped my understanding on this matter. I might as well locked this topic now because all of my queries are answered thoroughly.

Thanks for all of your replies!