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I recently got the following text message from Verizon: FREE VZW MSG: The security of your Verizon account is extremely important to us. Your persona

by dzdt 10y ago

I recently got the following text message from Verizon: FREE VZW MSG: The security of your Verizon account is extremely important to us. Your personal identification number (PIN) or password does not meet our new security requirements. Please log into your My Verizon account and select a new 4-digit PIN as soon as possible. My PIN was not in the top 20 but probably in the top 200. But how is requiring a 4 digit PIN at all compatible with "security is extremely important to us"? And how many PINs do you suppose they blacklist?

akerro 10y ago
>And how many PINs do you suppose they blacklist? I hope they will blacklist top 9997 pins. Greetings, the bad guy.
Freestyler_3 10y ago
The easiest ones are blacklisted for example: 4 repeating numbers and 1234. The 4 digit pin is not secure. It is like my bank telling me I can't use special characters in my password for online access and max length is 20 chars but way way worse. My bank card has a 4 pin code that I need to enter when purchasing items, its a minor security. but it doesn't need to more complicated, if I lose my card I will have to call to block it. If my card gets duped then they probably know a way to see me enter my pin. (agreement with bank states that in many cases I will get my money refunded if stolen) For a thing like voicemail, if its accesable without taking or copying your sim, it is a bad security measure. The other required data is often easily obtained. (postcode, birthyear, etc)
- Theodores 10y ago
  I beg to differ about 4 repeating numbers. I have such a number, allocated by a bank. As I see it nobody is ever going to guess my pin because they would assume it was blacklisted. I also get to do a different dance entering in the pin in public places because I have to pretend I am typing anything other than just the same number, at places where security is not a problem I can breeze through entering my pin nice and quickly. I have not felt the urge to request a change of pin from 'one number' to four.
  - Freestyler_3 10y ago
    It all depends on country and bank. They are more often blacklisted than not. Funny, how you have to dance around entering your pin. I can enter my 4 different digits so fast with almost the same intervals that it seems like I am entering 4 same digits. Unfortunately many pins are stolen by skimming, they sometimes place a whole cover over the ATM. Not taking function away but just copying all cards and filming all codes being entered or having an overlay on the keys.
  - SamBam 10y ago
    > As I see it nobody is ever going to guess my pin because they would assume it was blacklisted. Why wouldn't they? It's just a quick ten numbers to check. 4444 is going to be more common than any one other completely-random selection, like 8064, for the same reason that people choose "password" as a password.

by dzdt 10y ago

akerro 10y ago

>And how many PINs do you suppose they blacklist? I hope they will blacklist top 9997 pins. Greetings, the bad guy.

Freestyler_3 10y ago

The easiest ones are blacklisted for example: 4 repeating numbers and 1234. The 4 digit pin is not secure. It is like my bank telling me I can't use special characters in my password for online access and max length is 20 chars but way way worse. My bank card has a 4 pin code that I need to enter when purchasing items, its a minor security. but it doesn't need to more complicated, if I lose my card I will have to call to block it. If my card gets duped then they probably know a way to see me enter my pin. (agreement with bank states that in many cases I will get my money refunded if stolen) For a thing like voicemail, if its accesable without taking or copying your sim, it is a bad security measure. The other required data is often easily obtained. (postcode, birthyear, etc)

Theodores 10y ago
I beg to differ about 4 repeating numbers. I have such a number, allocated by a bank. As I see it nobody is ever going to guess my pin because they would assume it was blacklisted. I also get to do a different dance entering in the pin in public places because I have to pretend I am typing anything other than just the same number, at places where security is not a problem I can breeze through entering my pin nice and quickly. I have not felt the urge to request a change of pin from 'one number' to four.
- Freestyler_3 10y ago
  It all depends on country and bank. They are more often blacklisted than not. Funny, how you have to dance around entering your pin. I can enter my 4 different digits so fast with almost the same intervals that it seems like I am entering 4 same digits. Unfortunately many pins are stolen by skimming, they sometimes place a whole cover over the ATM. Not taking function away but just copying all cards and filming all codes being entered or having an overlay on the keys.
- SamBam 10y ago
  > As I see it nobody is ever going to guess my pin because they would assume it was blacklisted. Why wouldn't they? It's just a quick ten numbers to check. 4444 is going to be more common than any one other completely-random selection, like 8064, for the same reason that people choose "password" as a password.