Data Visualization of the Most Common PIN Numbers
Based on an analysis of leaked PIN numbers by Nick Berry, Information is Beautiful made this visualization of the most common PINs.
According to the analysis, just 20 4-digit numbers account for 27% of all PINs: 1234, 0000, 7777, 2000, 2222, 9999, 5555, 1122, 8888, 2001, 1111, 1212, 1004, 4444, 6969 (nice), 3333, 6666, 1313, 4321, 1010. The diagonal line is people using repeated pairs of digits (e.g. 2727 or 8888) while the horizontal line near the bottom is people who are presumably using their (19xx) birth year as a PIN. (You can see the beginning of a 20xx line on the left side.)
The best causally unguessable PINs would seem to be unrepeated pairs of numbers greater than 50 — so 8957, 7064, 9653, etc. Choose wisely.
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Another thing you can notice in the viz is which months have 31 days! This is the staggered vertical line at x=30,31 and y
I saw that there's a diagonal line from bottom left to upper right denoting repeating two numbers (ex: 25,25). There's a little bump right above the midpoint, populated entirely by Van Halen fans.
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I looked at something similar to this when making a 'memorable-ISH' (not guessable but memorizable/easy-enough to retain for a few seconds when copying off a screen and entering into another keyboard) password generator (like password managers have) ~9 years ago https://www.afp548.com/2015/08/17/design-of-and-how-to-generate-memorable-passwords/
When it comes to just numbers, one of the references I consulted was this post (that's also still an active link, hallelujah!) https://minimaxir.com/2015/02/password-numbers/ and roughly skimming the 'least used' there tends to be a 5 or 7 in more than half, so perhaps that analysis remains true.
Did you know that "PIN number" is redundant? That's because the "N" in "PIN" already stands for "No one gives a crap you pedantic fool".
Ha!
So I should pick a number that corresponds to one of those black dots?
I was assigned a PIN for my first ATM card in ~1983. There was no choice except to memorize what you were given. That number was given a permanent space in my brain and I still use it occasionally. I'm happy to learn it meets the criteria for "casually unguessable."
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