How is it possible to of not of heard of 1984? 🙄

How is it possible to of not of heard of 1984?

MrPottatoHead » That was a joke BTW.

But any excuse to get in an eye roll, eh…

The ATM was invented by a British bloke and when he thought about security he came up with the PIN. He kept it to four digits as that’s all he thought his wife would remember!

A friend who is, shall we say connected to the ATM side of things, told me that there’s always been room for a significantly bigger number in the system.

I tried to phone my bank to see if I could use 5705 as my PIN – but there was no reply.

I got it, very good 😆

A round up for pedants:

SAS were live on TV raiding the Libiyan Embassy.

No they weren’t. They were on tv raiding the Iranian embassy (in 1980) and there was a siege at the Libyan embassy in 1984, but it didn’t end with an SAS raid. And there’s only one “i” in “Libyan”.

9999 possible PIN numbers.

I’m fairly certain you can’t have 4 consecutive numbers either so that’s another ten fewer possibilities.[/quote]

only 9999 possible PIN numbers.

10000[/quote]

No, then yes (maybe) but no, but then checked, and actually maybe yes after all:

10,000 possible combinations, going from 0000 to 9999 inclusive.

I only get a maximum of 8 possible consecutive sequences: 0123, 1234, 2345, 3456, 4567, 5678, 6789 and 7890. You can’t get a four digit consecutive sequence starting with 8 or 9. You could argue of course that 7890 isn’t one either, but I was being generous.

So that would leave 9992 possible PINs.

BUT then I thought, did the above mean “consecutive” or did they mean the same number, e.g. 0000, 1111 etc. (because there would be ten of them) so I did a quick google and, according to the Guardian, in 2012, the most popular PIN was 1234, so at least back then consecutive numbers were allowed. BUT the article then goes on “followed by 1111 and 0000” so those (at least in 2012) were also allowed.

So, it looks like Drac was right (but not about the embassy siege) and there are in fact 10,000 possible combinations, or at least there were until quite recently.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2012/sep/28/debit-cards-currentaccounts

I guessed 3 digits of a colleague’s PIN based on his religion – he was a bit taken-aback. He didn’t realise that loads of Muslims would pick the same number.

Nice one edlong! That read just like an edition of R4’s More or Less 🙂

I’m slightly dubious about his data, because that’s what I’d probably use as a test password or where I wasn’t at all bothered – and I suspect such sets of passwords may well have made it into his database.

No they weren’t. They were on tv raiding the Iranian embassy (in 1980) and there was a siege at the Libyan embassy in 1984, but it didn’t end with an SAS raid. And there’s only one “i” in “Libyan”.

Ah my mistake.

No, then yes (maybe) but no, but then checked, and actually maybe yes after all:

10,000 possible combinations, going from 0000 to 9999 inclusive.

Yes it’s 10,000 I’ve no idea if they block any though.

He didn’t realise that loads of Muslims would pick the same number.

1515

@zilog – genuinely fascinating article, thanks.

+1, love delving into the psychology behind everyday things!

Morley Miss Wet T shirt

*shudders*

I got Applejack, the first of many My Little Ponies, for my fourth birthday.

I got Applejack, the first of many My Little Ponies, for my fourth birthday.

Cute, but she’s no Rainbow Dash

I guessed 3 digits of a colleague’s PIN based on his religion – he was a bit taken-aback. He didn’t realise that loads of Muslims would pick the same number.

570?

today in 1984, Andy Kaufman (REM’s “Man on the Moon”) pegged out

or did he?

How is it possible to of not of heard of 1984?

If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.

which leads to another point – close your eyes and make random button presses so not even you know your PIN.

I got a Spectrum in 1984 and learned how to program. Years later I did the coding for how the banks bill each other for when customers from one bank use another bank’s ATM – feeds into Oracle EBS, far more complicated than you might imagine….

If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.

On that note, here’s how to safely write your PIN number on your card so you never forget it:

How a Hacker Remembers a PIN

I “wrote down” my PINs when I first had a bank account, using a similar but slightly different method. Missed the trick of writing the ciphertext on the card though.