all-in-one privacy solution":["O Proton Unlimited é uma solução única de privacidade"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Sem anúncios. Privacidade por padrão."],"People before profits":["Pessoas acima do lucro"],"Security through transparency":["Segurança por meio da transparência"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["As melhores ofertas de ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } do Proton Mail"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["O único serviço de e-mail do mundo apoiado pela comunidade"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } hora","${ hours } horas"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft }, e ${ secondsLeft } restantes"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuto","${ minutes } minutos"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } segundo","${ seconds } segundos"],"Limited time offer":["Oferta por tempo limitado"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Crie vários endereços"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Use aliases do hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Cancele a assinatura de newsletters rapidamente"],"Use your own domain name":["Use seu próprio nome de domínio"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Destaques"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Obtenha um e-mail criptografado que proteja sua privacidade"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Oferta de Black Friday do Proton Mail - Até 40% de desconto"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Obtenha até 40% de desconto nas assinaturas do Proton Mail nesta Black Friday. Confira ótimas ofertas em nossos planos de e-mail seguro com criptografia de ponta a ponta."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Oferta de Black Friday do Proton Mail - Até 40% de desconto no e-mail protegido"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } no primeiro ano"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } nos primeiros dois anos"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garantia de reembolso de 30 dias"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } nos primeiros dois anos"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } no primeiro ano"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Economize ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ DISCOUNT } off":["-${ DISCOUNT }"],"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["-${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Adoro ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Meu serviço favorito de e-mail"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Agradecemos ao Proton por nos manter a salvo no complicado universo da internet."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Você recebe pelo que paga. No caso das grandes tecnologias, você se acostuma quando não paga nada. Parei de usar o Gmail e troquei para o @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Dias"],"Hours":["Horas"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["E muito mais"],"Make your inbox yours":["Deixe a caixa de entrada do seu jeito"],"Safe from trackers":["A salvo de rastreadores"],"Stay organized":["Mantenha-se organizado"],"Black Friday email deals":["Ofertas de e-mail da Black Friday"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Não confie apenas em nossa palavra"],"Our story":["Nossa história"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Transfira seus dados do Google com um clique"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, conecte até 10 dispositivos, acesse serviços de streaming do mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Compartilhe facilmente seus calendários com amigos, familiares ou colegas e visualize calendários externos."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Inclui suporte para 1 domínio de e-mail personalizado, 10 endereços de e-mail, 10 aliases do hide-my-email, compartilhamento de calendário e muito mais."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Inclui suporte para 3 domínios de e-mail personalizados, 15 endereços de e-mail, aliases ilimitados do hide-my-email, compartilhamento de calendário e muito mais."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Gerencie até 25 calendários, apps para dispositivos móveis, protegidos com criptografia de ponta a ponta, importação de calendário com 1 clique do Google e muito mais."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["No momento estamos enfrentando problemas com o serviço Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Saiba mais"]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Saiba mais"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["No momento, estamos com problemas no serviço ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["No momento, estamos com problemas em um ou mais serviços."]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Sugestões"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Subcategoria","Subcategorias"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Categoria","Categorias"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Não encontrou o que procura?"],"General contact":["Contato geral"],"Get help":["Obter ajuda"],"Legal contact":["Contato jurídico"],"Media contact":["Contato de mídia"],"Partnerships contact":["Contato de parcerias"],"Reading":["Leitura"]},"Support categories":{"Browse Proton product support":["Navegar pelo suporte a produtos da Proton"]},"Support category":{"There is no article in this category yet.":["Ainda não há nenhum artigo nesta categoria."]},"Support troubleshooting":{"--- Select ---":["--- Selecionar ---"],"App version":["Versão do aplicativo"],"Browser":["Navegador"],"Check if this helps":["Confira se isso ajuda"],"Choose a category for your question":["Escolha uma categoria para sua pergunta"],"Choose a product":["Selecione um produto"],"Did this solve your issue ?":["Isso resolveu seu problema?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away — please make your selections":["Assistência mais rápida está a apenas alguns cliques de distância — faça suas seleções"],"No, contact support":["Não, entrar em contato com o suporte"],"Proton account":["Conta Proton"],"Proton Bridge":["Proton Bridge"],"Proton Calendar":["Proton Calendar"],"Proton Drive":["Proton Drive"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Proton Mail":["Proton Mail"],"Proton Pass":["Proton Pass"],"Proton VPN":["Proton VPN"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Agradecemos pelo feedback"],"Troubleshooting":["Solução de problemas"],"What can we help with ?":["Como podemos ajudar você?"],"Yes":["Sim"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Consulta de pesquisa"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Pesquisar"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Estou procurando"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Para uma resolução mais rápida, informe o problema no aplicativo Bridge: Ajuda > Comunicar um 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depoimentos"],"Reviews":["Avaliações"],"Videos":["Vídeos"]},"Text":{"Find the plan that's right for you":["Encontre o plano certo para você"],"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Se precisar de ajuda, confira nossa ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["É possível que a página que você está procurando tenha sido removida ou seja um\nlink antigo."]},"Title":{"On this page":["Nesta página"],"Related articles":["Artigos relacionados"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Compartilhar ${ thisPage }"],"Thank you!":["Obrigado!"],"this page":["esta página"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Mais informações"]},"tooltip_calendar":{"Create up to 20 custom & shareable encrypted calendars. On top of that, add up to 5 calendars from friends, family, colleagues, and organizations.":["Crie até 20 calendários compartilháveis personalizados e criptografados. Além disso, é possível adicional até 5 calendários de amigos, família, colegas e organizações."]},"tooltip_vpn":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui mais de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em mais de +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, VPN com a mais alta velocidade, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } conexões VPN, serviços de streaming no mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."],"Access blocked content and browse privately. 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Are security questions terrible for account security? | Proton
What was your first pet’s name? In what city were you born?
We’ve all had to answer these questions to reset a long-forgotten password, but consider how that works. Much of this information is easy to find for others (or easily forgotten by you), making it a poor defense for your most valuable online accounts, personal data, and sensitive information.
Security questions are meant to help reset passwords, reopen locked accounts, and ultimately protect your digital spaces from attacks or breaches, but such safeguarding is widely considered flawed and unreliable(new window).
A massive Yahoo data breach(new window) highlighted the perils of relying on security questions to protect your accounts. The breach exposed the personal data of half a billion million users, including their names, email addresses, phone numbers, and the security questions and answers they used for account recovery.
This article will explore why security questions are actually terrible for your security and what measures you can take to better protect your most sensitive private data.
What are security questions?
When you’re locked out of an account, it’s common to face security questions to regain access or reset passwords. This gatekeeper layer of security is common and used across many platforms, from email and social media to banking and shopping websites.
Answers to questions like “What is your mother’s maiden name?” are supposed to be information only you know or a select few — in theory, the more obscure the answer, the better the security.
However, experts have begun to question the effectiveness(new window) of this security layer due to the vulnerabilities that come with requiring people to remember information that can be forgotten, changed, or discovered by potential attackers digging around on the Internet.
Why security questions are a terrible idea
There are several reasons why leaning on security questions to protect you is a bad idea. It comes down to a pair of unfortunate realities: Potential attackers are more clever than you might think, and there’s more personal information online than you realize.
Here’s a look at why security questions are the weakest link of security measures:
Discoverability: In an age where people manage multiple social media accounts across several platforms, attackers can often find answers to security questions with a little digging into your public-facing profiles. They can build a profile of you based on your posts, exploiting publicly available information to bypass security measures and gain access to your account.
Forgettability: Favorites and life details change over time, often making it difficult for you to recall information at the moment you need to. This greatly diminishes the reliability of security questions as a security tool.
“40% of English-speaking US users have failed to recall their answers to security questions, according to Google,” reported Time(new window). “When the questions are very difficult, such as asking for a person’s frequent flier number, the recall rate drops to 9%.”
Beware of oversharing on social media
By exploring your social media accounts, hackers can often obtain the information you use to reset passwords, particularly the answers to security questions. Make sure to consider anything you share that could contain the following information:
Family names
Date of birth
Location of birth
What school you attended
Pet names
Any address, current or former
Details of your routine
What’s at stake? Your data and privacy
If the answers to your security questions are ever compromised, it can lead to widespread privacy violations.
Identity theft: With access to something like your bank account, it wouldn’t take much work for an attacker to impersonate you, open new accounts, or commit fraud with your stolen identity.
Compromised accounts: If the answers to your security questions are exposed in a data breach, any account tied to the answers of those questions can be in danger, as it’s common for people to recycle the same ones over multiple accounts.
What are better alternative security measures?
Knowing the dangers that could come with traditional security questions, you might consider using more effective – and reliable – authentication methods.
Two-factor authentication (2FA), also known as two-step verification, requires two forms of identification when you log into an account. After you input a username and password, 2FA may have you enter a unique code generated by a mobile authenticator app, plug in a security key, or type in a code sent to your phone.
Here’s a look at the best forms of 2FA:
Security key: Security keys, also known as hardware keys, help prove your identity when you’re logging in to an account, app, or device. This allows you to sign in to your account using a physical key, such as a YubiKey(new window), which resembles a thumb drive. If you choose to use a 2FA key with your Proton Account, for example, you must plug in your key every time you sign in.
Time-based one-time passwords: You can use an authenticator app on your smartphone to generate six-digit passwords that regenerate every 30 seconds to keep codes fresh and make unauthorized access to your accounts difficult for potential attackers. Using TOTP can be inconvenient, however, as it involves entering a code in a short period of time.
What about SMS messages?
Text messages are considered the least secure of 2FA options, as they are vulnerable to SIM-swapping attacks. SMS is unencrypted and insecure, making it easier for hackers to intercept 2FA codes. If there are multiple 2FA methods offered, SMS should be avoided.
Best practices for online security
As cybersecurity threats become more sophisticated and common, it’s important to reassess security practices and the role security questions play in our defense against such attacks. Here are two ways you can enhance your online security right now:
Use email aliases: These let you keep your personal email addresses private. You can use a service, such as SimpleLogin by Proton, to generate distinct email addresses for your various online accounts. That way you can easily revoke an alias tied to a specific account should that account become compromised.
Put your privacy first
You can start by prosecuting your trust in security questions and using alternative tools, such as two-factor authentication and secure email services like Proton Mail to strengthen your defenses.
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