PIN – Personal Identification Number
First came the ATM and then almost immediately afterwards a way to restrict access was required. Enter the PIN for authentication purposes. All we now need to do is enter a personal identification number into a keypad for access into some sort of system. Note the we often talk about PIN numbers – which is a little too much. In this case the word number is simply duplicated.
This PIN emerged in England in the 1960s. The key drivers for use use of the PIN were the two banks – Barclays and also Lloyds. Now we need to use it for access to cash or mobile phones. In most countries the number is a four-digit one, although Switzerland uses six digits. Obviously with 4 digits there are 10,000 combinations, but many people are not very inventive in respect to choosing their combinations. Approximately one in nine of all four-digit passwords are 1234 and one in 18 use 1111. Someone trying to get into a machine has a one in three chance to break in with only 60 combinations.
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