Released: September 24, 2008

On the Internet, everybody knows your dog’s name

Source: Michael V. Copeland, Fortune (CNNMoney.com)

If you suspected there were some security holes in all your password-protected online accounts - banking, e-mail, etc. - you would be right. And Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate who just had her Yahoo e-mail hacked, would agree.

But as the Palin episode shows, the weak link isn’t the passwords themselves but those security questions you have to answer in case you forget the passwords. You know the drill. You set up an online checking account and answer questions about your high school mascot, the street you grew up on, and the name of your dog, which supposedly only you can answer. It’s all safe as long as crooks don’t have the answers, which now - thanks to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and every other public forum people use to put every last detail of their lives online - they do. 

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