14 DAY TRIAL // A lot of advisories have been published over the past period about how to secure online account passwords. However, as experts from security firm Avast highlight, the four-digit personal identification numbers (PINs) that protect our credit cards must also be carefully guarded.
Experts advise users not to choose PINs such as 0000, 1234 or 1111 because these are the first combinations that crooks will try in case they steal a credit card.
Using birth dates, addresses or other information that’s found in your wallet is also not recommended because the credit card and the wallet are usually lost together. According to a recent study, in 15% of wallet theft cases, the thieves try to withdraw money from ATMs.
Many credit card owners use key combinations such as 5683, which spells “love.” Experts don’t advise against such practices, just make sure you don’t utilize something as common as “love.”
If you want to make sure that your PIN is impossible to guess, use the one assigned by the bank, but never write it down on the card or on a piece of paper you keep in your wallet.
You can set numbers that have a meaning, but not ones that are listed anywhere. The score of a game, an old phone number, student or work IDs are good, but only if they meet this requirement.
A clever trick to remembering your PINs, recommended by Avast experts, is storing them as a contact in the phone. Make up a fake contact and enter the PINs as the phone number.
Another thing worth mentioning about PIN security is that you must protect it against pinhole cameras and shoulder surfers by placing your hand over the ATM keypad.
When fraudsters install skimming devices on ATMs, they also install cameras that record the PIN entered by the victim.
This is also important if you have the more secure chip cards. While these cards are more difficult to copy, someone planning to steal your wallet might try to take a peek at the numbers you’re entering at the ATM when making a withdrawal.