Abstract: A method of automatic verification of personal identity is provided. The method includes the automatic generation of cue-response pairs and the allocation of such cue-response pairs to authorized people. Verification of the identity of an applicant as an authorized person is achieved by presenting the cues from one or more cue-response pairs previously allocated to the authorized person to an applicant and verifying replies entered by the applicant by comparing the replies with the responses in the cue-response pairs. A person can more easily remember cue-response associations than passwords. This knowledge may be tested by presenting any of the cues to an applicant and asking for the corresponding response. In this manner, the present invention enhances the level of security of methods of automatic verification of personal identity.