I received a phishing email over the weekend and decided to show it to my freshman class so they could see how deceptive some of these emails can be. This particular email allegedly came from a bank and asked me to update all my account information, including my mother’s maiden name.
This led to a discussion about why someone might want to know your mother’s maiden name. Then a student, trying to be clever, raised his hand and asked:
“Mr. Klein, what’s your maiden name?”
to which another student replied:
“Duh. He doesn’t have a maiden name. He’s not married.”