How to avoid bank card hacking - expert advice
Experts explain how fraudsters manage to steal money from bank cards using PIN codes. An analysis of 3.4 million PIN codes revealed that many users choose simple and easily guessable combinations such as 1234, 1111, and 0000, which significantly reduces security. Experts advise avoiding predictable combinations, including birth dates and sequences, and not storing the code near the card.
Experts have explained how fraudsters manage to steal money from bank cards using PIN codes. The PIN code, or personal identification number, remains one of the main methods of protecting a bank card. It usually consists of four digits, so the number of possible combinations reaches 10,000. With a random selection of combinations, it would be extremely difficult to guess such a code through brute force. This was reported by the portal Onet. In practice, users often settle on simple and easily guessable combinations of numbers, which fraudsters can exploit. An analysis of 3.4 million PIN codes revealed consistent patterns: many people prefer the same combinations and rarely choose truly random options. Therefore, attackers do not have to try all possible combinations in order; they can first check the most common ones. Experts warn that using obvious and frequently occurring PIN codes significantly reduces security and increases the risk of losing money from cards. The PIN code must remain secret: it should not be stored near the bank card or shared with anyone. It is also better to avoid combinations that can be easily guessed from the owner's data, including birth dates, as well as obvious number sets. Banks advise against using the simplest combinations like 1234, 1111, or 0000 as PINs. The three most popular codes - 1234, 1111, and 0000 - together accounted for nearly 19% of the 3.4 million analyzed PIN codes.