Avoid Birth Dates, Numerical Sequences in ATM Pin Code

According to the researchers at the data analysis firm Data Genetics, the four digit ATM Pin number that controls access to your bank account may become less secure. If your ATM pin code is your birth date, a year in the 1900s, there are more chances of cracking your password.

The researchers from ‘Data Genetics’ found that, three most popular combinations like ‘1234’, ‘1111’ and ‘0000’ are close to 20% of all 4-digit passwords. According to slate magazine report, every 4-digit combination that starts with “19” ranks above 80% in popularity. The quite common combinations in first two digits are ’01’ and ’12’ and last two digits are ’01’ and ’31’. So, choosing your birthday, birth year for your ATM pin makes your password significantly easier to guess.

The least popular combinations appears for ‘8068’, ‘8093’, ‘9629’, ‘6835’ and ‘7637’. The data also shows that, people most prefer even numbers than odd numbers – ‘2468’ ranks higher than ‘1357’. More number of passwords start with ‘1’ and have second and third as ‘0’ and ‘2’ respectively.

Data Genetics came with this analysis by analyzing a database of 3.4 million stolen passwords over the years.