vBulletin Security Enhancement

[Snowhog]

vBulletin uses the registered user name for logging in to a forum. No issue. However, there is no provision in vBulletin for setting a 'Display as / Alias' for the user once logged in. By this, I mean that a user 'alias' would be displayed throughout the forum and not the actual registered user name.

Many people are lazy (not intended as disrespect, just a basic fact) when it comes to passwords, simply due to the fact that hard ones are difficult to remember. Therefore, many passwords are simple and (easily) guessable. The risk to vBulletin forums is that a registered user name could be hijacked by guessing its password, and having the password changed by the hijacker.

This possible risk could be minimized greatly if an element were added to vBulletin to require (mandatory field) a different identity be provided (an 'alias' which is not the same as the registered user name or an existing identity belonging to a registered user -- a validation check). This 'alias' is what would be shown within the forum, not the registered user name.