EPIC to Maryland Legislators: Security Questions Need Upgrade
EPIC Interim Associate Director and Policy DIrector Caitriona Fitzgerald will testify today before the Maryland Senate Committee on Finance in support of stronger authentication methods to protect consumers. Senate Bill 185 requires financial institutions who choose to use security questions as a authentication method to provide customers with more than one security question option. EPIC noted that there are plenty of alternative authentication methods available today and that financial institutions truly should no longer be using basic security questions. "The requirement that your password contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one symbol, and one number is meaningless if all that is required to bypass that password is your pet’s name," EPIC told the Committee. But, EPIC said, if security questions are going to be used, institutions should ensure that multiple question options are given, and that users are permitted to answer the questions with randomly-generated password-like answers rather than factual, semantic answers.
February 9, 2021| Share:
