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    What's Your Bank Card PIN Number -- 1111 or 1234? [VIDEO]

    By Joann Pan | Mashable – Mon, Feb 20, 2012

    You shouldn't be allowed to pick your own four-digit PIN numbers -- and banks should start blacklisting the most common PINs, according to a team of British computer security researchers. Too many bank accounts are protected by the numbers "1111" and "1234", their study found.

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    Self-selected pins are so unsafe that if a thief were to steal enough wallets, he would be able to access a bank account with every 18th wallet -- or every 10th wallet, if the cards come from banks that allow you to choose your own PINs. This form of stealing is called "jackpotting," says to New York Times' Bits Blog.

    The Cambridge University Computer Laboratory team determined self-selected PINs were extremely vulnerable by examining 32 million passwords on the social gaming website RockYou. They also looked at iPhone log-in codes and answers collected from online survey of 1,100 participants.

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    The study also found most people participant in many unsafe password practices. Over half of the participants shared their PINs with another person. One third of users use the same PIN for all credit/debit cards, and many users were seen to re-purpose PIN numbers for voicemail codes and Internet passwords.

    SEE ALSO: 25 Worst Passwords of 2011 [STUDY]

    As a part of the experiment, members of the team went out to the streets with a list of common passwords. Five out of 20 people stopped on the street said they saw their PIN numbers on the page of most common passwords. Many used their date of birth, proving birthday-based guessing is the most effective strategy for thieves.

    Researchers warn you should not use your birth date, in case you lose your wallet along with your identification cards. The study found 99% of people carried something that stated their birthdate in their wallet.

    Image courtesy of Flickr, Elizabeth Hudy Photography

    This story originally published on Mashable here.

     

    13 comments

    • Larry Dickson
      Larry Dickson  •  San Diego, California  •  3 mths ago
      The only real protection is that there are so many bank accounts, the thieves cannot work their way through more than a tiny fraction of them.
    • Medwardl
      Medwardl  •  Syracuse, New York  •  3 mths ago
      No surprise there a lot of people are stupid and lazy. Just look at the most common computer password "password" or "123456" I think they should start using fingerprint scanners for all credit/debit transactions.
    • ChadC
      ChadC  •  3 mths ago
      1, 2, 3, 4... #$%$.. That's the same combination I have on my luggage.
      • El Fuego
        El Fuego 3 mths ago
        Yes! I loved Spaceballs!
    • williamb
      williamb  •  3 mths ago
      Can't cure stupid.
    • BrannigansLaw
      BrannigansLaw  •  South Park, Pennsylvania  •  3 mths ago
      So if the Banks block those numbers, the hackers know that too, it just gives them less numbers to generate and search. And 4 digits is a joke, 6 and 8 too for any password. There's nothing worse than websites that have only 4-6 digits and also don't allow special characters.
      • DanA
        DanA 3 mths ago
        we are with you on that, you got my vote
      • BrannigansLaw
        BrannigansLaw 3 mths ago
        When those sites are hacked, somebody better be fired. Especially if it's a bank.
    • Grandad
      Grandad  •  London, United Kingdom  •  3 mths ago
      I wouldn't say it was the peoples fault, rather the companies and banks. with pin numbers, you are only allowed to use 4 numbers, and with so many cards carried by people today it is obvious they are going to use the same number. Imagine going to a till to get some money only to find you have forgotten which pin number goes with which card. With regards passwords, most will only allow letters and numbers i.e. no spaces or characters, which as I understand it is the easiest to crack with a good computer program.
      • DanA
        DanA 3 mths ago
        100 % correct and there are many programs the best ones are called crimeware and for sale make network security harder and harder
    • Joe 6Pack
      Joe 6Pack  •  3 mths ago
      Four-digits PINs are last century security ideas. Time to come up with a far more secure ATM card...which exist but the banks don't want to pay for them...might cut into the CEO's bonus.
    • Art Shapiro
      Art Shapiro  •  Surfside, California  •  3 mths ago
      Well of course most folks have something with their birthdate - one generally carries a driver's license. And while this article is primarily about PINs, normally numeric, I just have to gripe about web sites that don't permit special characters in passwords. That's preposterous.
    • MaxpiratedmyTV
      MaxpiratedmyTV  •  3 mths ago
      Hahaha! I blocked Bill "Marred's" ugly face with ad block plus. #$%$ yahoo Yayhoo's and you're socialist/Anti-American puppets you force us to view.
    • DanA
      DanA  •  Lansing, Michigan  •  3 mths ago
      I don't do on line banking and I use strong passwords no less then 17 characters no complete words and no repeats and I am becoming afraid that not enought thinking of going to 26 but some sites won't let you, so I don't use thoese sites
    • A Yahoo! User  •  Washington, District of Columbia  •  3 mths ago
      Oh Yea!...that article gotta from Europe so they can start hijack my account with easy access...Hmmmm!....
    • LuisM
      LuisM  •  3 mths ago
      The 4 digit pin is quite useless in terms of security as the chances of getting it right by random guessing are quite good. To be useful a pin needs to be at least 12 digits.
      • Robert
        Robert 3 mths ago
        A four digit pin, assuming it isn't a simple one like "1234" or "1111" actually is realtively effective. Most systems will and do lock you out after 3~2 wrong guesses so it's not like they have unlimited attempts. So unless the thief get's it right on the first couple tries they won't get in. The statistical odds of guessing a random 4 digit number correctly on the first try is actually significant.

        Also, most people don't realize that they can actually use more then 4 digits as their bank pin. But put too many digits into a pin and that increases the odds of the real user forgetting it themselves thus causing them to be careless and write it down or use any easy to find sequence.
      • DanA
        DanA 3 mths ago
        to late for 12 digits make it 16 rainbow cracker can do 12 digits
    • Model Citizen
      Model Citizen  •  3 mths ago
      Either get creative with a password or thieves don't have to.
     Post a comment
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