It is OK to lie on your security answers to make it harder for hackers
Criminals scan your social media and the internet to gather information about you that is used to “guess” your security question answers that you set up to restore your account or reset your password.
ACTION STEP: Make these security answers harder to guess by substituting some nonsensical words such as “Smurf” for the name “Smith”, or “East Burp High School” for “East Boston High School”, or “Walker” instead of “John” for the name of a child or spouse, “Clear” for your “favorite color”, “Westworld” in place of the name of places you normally visit or have posted on social media.. It’s ok to “lie” about the answers and use a name or place that means something to you but would never be guessed by a hacker. These substitutions can prevent a hacker from successfully changing your password and locking you out of your accounts!
See our CTR Cyber page for cybersecurity internal controls. Departments should contact [email protected] with any incidents or suspected incidents of fraud or cyber threats or if you need support from our Statewide Risk Management Team.