Twitter sparked with mentions of the security messages late last week, reaching an apex over the weekend. Numerous staffers encountered the messages in the past few days when going about their usual downloading.

Posting on , some Apple device owners have expressed concern over the questions themselves. Again, if prompted by the App Store, you need only select and answer three security questions--but some of them seem to skew a bit personal: the city where you experienced your first kiss, or your least favorite teacher.

Apple's reasoning behind such questions is clear. The goal of such questions, which can be used to confirm your identity later should you need help with your account or to reset your password, is to be memorable enough that you won't forget the answers, but esoteric enough that malfeasants on the Internet couldn't guess at or discover your answers. (In cases where famous people like Sarah Palin or Paris Hilton have had their email accounts "hacked," the intruders reportedly got access by providing the correct answers to easier-to-research security questions, like a mother's maiden name or city of birth.)

So despite the seemingly personal nature of the questions, it's apparent that Apple's not genuinely interested in learning more about you; rather, the company simply wants to protect your Apple ID a bit better. Apple both transmits and stores your answers to such security questions securely--meaning no prying eyes in Cupertino could uncover the town in which you first smooched someone else.

In addition to providing answers to the three security questions, the App Store prompt also asks that you provide Apple with a separate email address, distinct from your Apple ID. Apple says that it will only use that address to help you resolve account issues.