# Website Security Verification Routine...WTF!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041 "2013-10-12T02:07:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/1 "2013-10-12T02:07:09Z")
I just registered on the NY State health insurance exchange. After entering my information I encountered the following “identity verification” routine 1. Which of the below is a former employer A. HARRAHS B. RINFELD C. ETRAS D. AXON IND E. None of the above I have never even heard of any of these companies and certainly never worked for them so I choose E 2.Where did you attend high school A. HORACE GREELEY B. SUNDOWN CHRISTIAN ACADEMY C. CENTRAL ISLIP HIGH D. MERIDIAN SCHOOL E. None of the above Don’t know where they pulled this list of schools from but I never went to any of them so I picked E. What are the last 4 digits of your cellphone number A. 1820 B. 8875 C. 3233 D. 2956 E. None of the above So I picked E as none of these randon 4 digit numbers matched any part of any phone number I’ve ever had I hit enter and was directed to the page that said YOUR IDENTITY HAS BEEN VERIFIED !! So my question for the geeks of the SD is "just what in the freak did that little routine _PROVE_ and how in holy heck did THAT verify my identity in any way shape or form? Or is it some sort of malfunction, was I supposed to see my employer, school and phone number but for an off- kilter database? But if that’s the case why did the routine verify me? I’m ravenously curious for an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/2 "2013-10-12T03:15:52Z")
I just had similar for a TransUnion rental credit/background check, except that only one or two were “none of the above.” Perhaps luck of the draw for you, that all were “none of the above.” ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/3 "2013-10-12T03:24:48Z")
I’ve seen this on most if not all of the credit bureaus, though I don’t recall if I ever got all NOTA answers. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/4 "2013-10-12T05:56:56Z")
I don’t exactly remember where it was, but I recall seeing a verification question that went something like this: Which one of these is a former last name? A. SMITH B. SMITH45 C. SMITH322 D. SMITH1 Yes, it was that dumb. The correct answer was clearly obvious, and correct, but whoever came up with the algorithm for that question needs to think long and hard as to whether or not they are cut out to design identity verification systems. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/5 "2013-10-12T09:36:36Z")
Maybe it is an intelligence test? ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/6 "2013-10-12T13:30:32Z")
looks like a test for bots. captcha doesn’t work well any more, so perhaps this is the new technique. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/7 "2013-10-12T14:27:57Z")
I get these all the time when my bank or a credit reporting service wants to verify my identity, but in those cases they actually have my real address and account histories. Maybe this organization doesn’t have that info for you, but is too lazy to use a different algorithm, so just gives you all NOTA in the hopes that an impersonator wouldn’t know any better and would choose other random (wrong) answers? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/8 "2013-10-12T15:45:16Z")
I’m guessing the OP was on a site that could have the correct information on some or all of those questions stored for some registrants. The more information it has, the more likely it will present you with a valid choice. It just happened to know nothing about you so all the questions were random guesses. (I’m guessing it’s not really smart enough to say “Hmmm… born in Ithica, let’s give Ithica Central High as one school choice”; nor would it be smart enough to take answers for questions and store them for future reference if it happened to randomly hit the right school or employer, say.) ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-security-verification-routine-wtf/671041/9 "2013-10-12T18:30:37Z")
The verification questions for me had one None of the above, the others all had right answers (national exchange, for state of Illinois). These are standard verification questions that they also use for credit reporting, ie on [annualcreditreport.com](http://annualcreditreport.com) or on the websites of some of the Credit reporting agencies.