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Man's Offending Password Changed By Humorless Bank


Calling the British stuffy may be a bit of stereotyping, but the term certainly applies to a Lloyds TSB employee who changed a customer's password because it made fun of the bank. The customer had chosen "Lloyds is pants" -- translation: Lloyds is crap -- after a dispute with the bank, and found later that he couldn't access his account with it.

Steve Jetley used that password for his telephone banking account, but when he called up one day, the employee said the code didn't match what was in the system. It turned out that someone changed the password to "no it's not," so Jetley tried changing it back to his original phrase. The bank deemed it inappropriate, so he tried "Lloyds is rubbish," and then "Barclays is better," a reference to a rival business. They denied those too, saying it had to be one word, so he tried "censorship." They rejected that, saying it couldn't be more than six letters. Apparently, they haven't read up on safer passwords.

Lloyds said the staffer in question was fired and that in most cases, employees cannot see a customer's password. They claim that in this instance, the account is a business account with several people accessing it, so their advisors can see it. Unfortunately, Jetley is still trying to find a suitable password. We suggest he choose another bank. [From: BBC via Techdirt]

Tags: bank, banking, humor, password, security

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