Thousands of people are victims of scams and cyber attacks every year, so you’d think that would make everyone be more careful with their own passwords and PIN numbers. But new research shows many of us are still using common PIN numbers, leaving us vulnerable.
An analysis of leaked databases from Information is Beautiful reveals that “1234” is still the most common PIN, used by 11% of the 3.4-million PINs in the study. It’s obviously easy to guess, but it’s still so popular, “1234” is used more than all of the 42-hundred least-common PINs combined.
- The second most commonly used PIN is “1111,” which accounts for 6% of PINs analyzed.
- It’s followed by “0000,” and “1212,” each making up 2% of all PINs in the analysis.
- The least common PIN numbers are “8557,” “8438,” “9539,” “7063,” and “6827.”
- The research finds that a hacker could crack a third of all PINs in just 61 guesses. But if they got 426 chances, they could guess half of all PINs.
The Most Common PIN numbers
- 1234
- 1111
- 0000
- 1212
- 7777
- 1004
- 2000
- 4444
- 2222
- 6969
Source: Daily Mail