Krebs on Security:

Social media sites are littered with seemingly innocuous little quizzes, games and surveys urging people to reminisce about specific topics, such as “What was your first job,” or “What was your first car?” The problem with participating in these informal surveys is that in doing so you may be inadvertently giving away the answers to “secret questions” that can be used to unlock access to a host of your online identities and accounts.

I test my poor wife on this stuff all the time. Like most people, she plays along with these little quizzes and questions but had no idea they can be used to harvest details about her for nefarious purposes.

Personally, I never respond to these things on social media and lie on every one of these questions when asked by a bank or other similar institution. For example, when asked where I was born, I often say, “Capetown, South Africa”.

As John Gruber points out, these are the kinds of questions often used by banks as supposed “security” questions.