Tip of the Week: Good PINs and Bad PINs
A recent article on NBCNews.com discussed findings about the most commonly used PINs. You may recall we published a similar article last year on the most common passwords. Not surprisingly, the most common PIN is the same as the most common password – 1234. Don’t use that one. It’s used by 11% of users, which means it’s the first one an attacker will guess.
What’s the least common? According to the report, it’s 8068 with only 0.0000007% of users choosing it. Now that 8068 has been “outed,” an attacker might try it, but it will probably remain relatively uncommon.
The most common ones after 1234 usually involve a significant year, like a birthyear or graduation year, so that means anything that starts with 19– or 20–. So avoid those. Your birthday might be easily discovered, or your wife’s, or your children’s, so consider avoiding those. They are popular because they are easy to remember, but perhaps a variation on that theme will do the trick. Like your son’s birthday backwards… I’m not telling you mine!
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/whats-safest-4-digit-pin-not-8068-anymore-1B5966082
