Re: Security with students entering own data?

In article <4isn1e$jfm_at_gossamer.itmel.bhp.com.au>, levy.lee.ls_at_bhp.com.au (Lee Levy) writes:

> What about handling it the same way that it would be done if they phoned
> the admissions office?
> They have to have some info to uniquely identify themselves - when the
> banks use this it often seems to be Mother's Maiden Name.

What a quaint idea. That might be more than 50% secure for another 3 years, but the "maiden name" is a nearly extinct concept in Norway. The default is that people keep their names if they get married, and since 1980 (?) children get their mother's name by default. But in practice any variation is possible, so perhaps a good "password" would be the concatenation of parents' and siblings' last names in chronological order, nobody not intimately acquainted would remember those...

> I wouldnt recommend getting them to 'nominate' a password to replace this
> (as some of the banks do) because in some cases it wouldnt be used
> oftener than annually - and who can remember a password at that
> frequency.
>

Yes, that is the problem. When we get to the stage where all students get, and use, computer accounts from day 1, this may be solved.

Regards, Torfrid

Torfrid Leek
USIT - Centre for Information Technology Services University of Oslo

torfrid.leek_at_usit.uio.no Received on Fri Mar 22 1996 - 00:00:00 CET