For a few PINs I’ve used OTHER people’s birthdays and anniversaries. That’ll keep 'em guessing!
(Other people I know, that is. Yes, I know every day is someone’s birthday.)
The PIN I use the most was derived from the acronym of an organization I once worked for. PINs that my husband and I must share are derived from our kids’ birthdates. Old phone numbers are good, reversed or abbreviated zip codes or addresses, etc.
Sorry, none of the systems that ask for PINs will allow me to use π. It’s too long for a four-digit field and contains a decimal point.
Consider why these are bad choices. First, here’s a list of four-digit numbers in the order in which they most commonly are chosen by people as their four-digit password. Take a look through this list and see what’s most commonly chosen.
The list is at https://github.com/danielmiessler/SecLists/blob/master/Passwords/Common-Credentials/four-digit-pin-codes-sorted-by-frequency-withcount.csv
Years in which you were born/married/graduated are bad unless you’re a time traveler, since less than a hundred of them will ever be picked.
The years of historical significance are similarly bad unless you’re an historian with an obscure favorite topic.
There are only 366 month/day choices.
5309 (the last four digits of Jenny’s number) is more common than most choices.
Mine’s an old phone number. That’s it.
Sam Spade’s private investigator # is 137596, sometimes I will incorporate strings like that for easy retrieval.
Exactly the same for me, except it was my first bank account and more than 50 years ago.
My old PIN (which I no longer use) was the last four digits of my childhood phone number.
My current one was just randomly assigned by my bank, and I managed to memorize it.
Why not just turn off the passcode for the first two? I’ve done that for years, but now have an actual code who knows why.
When you (general) say you use a random number, I am curious: do you really? Do you use a random number generator of some kind, or are you saying you pick a number that has no significance to you, or pick a number that looks random?
A random number generator has an equal chance of generating 1111, or 1234, or 5963. But only one of those looks random. If one did use a random number generator, it seems like you’d want to exclude the most commonly used numbers. Then again, instead of random generation, maybe the best move is to use this list, in reverse order:
@Wendell_Wagner, it looks like it lists all of the possible 4-digit number combinations between (and including) 0000 and 9999. But when I search, using find in page, for a PIN I use frequently for unimportant things, I get zero results.
I assume it is only loading part of the post at a time, but it makes the list less useful. I know my number is not near the beginning, but that’s all I can tell. And I’m on my phone, so it’s nearly impossible for me to scroll to the end.
I get all ten thousand of them.
I recommend that you create a file. Fill in several lines of the file by pushing a lot of keys on your keyboard without looking at it. Use the first four digits among those characters.
Back in 7th grade a friend of mine had a favorite two digit number, kind of random, which I glommed on to. I used that number as base of the number of a secret agent I was writing about. This was when James Bond was getting hot. That, plus one digit, has been my go to pin when I needed one.
Same here. Or similarly so. My wife and I have 2 PINs. One is from one of my first jobs from decades ago, and the other is based on a car we owned, also decades ago.
Those are our only 2 PINs and we use them everywhere.
Hehe. Never considered it, but yeah, seems like the obvious way to go.
Don’t use the same password for everything:
But the potential bad guy doesn’t know if I’m choosing meaningful years, days, or random numbers. He would get locked out way before he hit 1956 or 1225
I use the same PIN I got when I got my first debit card around 1990.
A series of devices I sometimes work with has some default menu access codes that are easy to remember. 2580 is right down the center of the numberpad and 1793 is the corner.
Same here. I dislike change.
- My smallest PIN is 12 characters (all numbers).
- My work PIN is 20 characters (required minimum), comprised of 0-9, A-Z,a-z, and special characters. I am required to change it every 60 days.