Memory experts say it’s easier for people to remember images rather than numbers, and thanks to the British start-up, Intelligent Environments, your next personal identification number (PIN) can now be: chicken leg, burger, beer, smiling poop.
In other words, we may soon be ditching our PINs for emoji passcodes. According to Intelligent Environments, its Emoji Passcode service is more secure because there are more potential combinations of 44 emoji than there are of the numbers 0-9. The company’s research revealed that one-third of 1,300 people polled have forgotten their PINs before, and that 64% of millennials regularly communicate only using emoji. Combining the two seemed like a logical conclusion.
The future of cybersecurity may use emoji for passcodes. Image: hyperallergic.com
When it comes to the traditional four-digit passcode, about 10,000 variations are available. If you were allowed to guess indefinitely, even a slow typist could access a stolen card in less than a day. By contrast, the emoji passcode offers a choice of 44 images and four slots, totaling to 3.8 million different passcodes.
The people behind the new technology suggest creating a story to help you remember the sequence. You could think up an imaginary day that starts with the sunrise, continues with biking to work, eating a burger for lunch, and washing it all down with a beer. Sun, bike, burger, beer. Currently the company is planning to roll out the technology over the next year.
According to cybersecurity expert, Professor Alan Woodward, the technology would force hackers to run through a greater number of cycles to break the code. He also mentioned that patterns and images are already in use by some firms as a useful alternative to remembering complex sequences of numbers and letters. “I think this is an interesting and potentially valuable step forward,” he said.
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Source: Mashable
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