We laughed a lot at this article in the Radio Times about the hoops you have to jump through when trying to make simple bank requests over the phone: How bankers turned me purple
It reminded us of all the processes in place to protect our security these days – mother's maiden name, a date that's 'special' to you (but not your birthday, no no, that's no good), first pet, first school – all those things that are probably quite easily guessable to anyone who knows you well but THAT SERIOUSLY NO-ONE ELSE MUST KNOW.
It can work against us, all this. It can turn us into raging, paranoid, forgetful beings. You know you probably shouldn't write a PIN number down inside your wallet, and probably should make up a fake mother's maiden name in order to protect your hard-earned money from questionable relatives, and probably will have to ring up a customer service centre at some point to ask for a new password. And when you're prompted, you will undoubtedly find yourself in a tangle of red tape.
(Of course we'd never ask you all this here at Spinnaker. No security questions asked!)