Thinking Like a Criminal: Change your Key Code!

keypadYou’ve got a home alarm, one of those neat keypad things for your garage and a gun safe and they all have digital keypads. So when was the last time you changed your code? Every time you push one of those numbers, it affects the button you push. The plastic is worn down by a minute amount. The paint is worn off a tiny bit. Some of the oils from your finger is left on the button. After even a short period, the most commonly hit keys are going to be obvious.

Most keypads use a 4-digit pin code. That means there are about 10,000 four digit combinations that can be derived from a 0-9 pad. That’s having no idea what numbers are used. If, by taking note of which keys are more worn or dirty, I can narrow those 10 numbers down to 4. Specifically, the EXACT four digits of your pass code. We don’t know the order of the numbers, however. With only 4 digits, the number of possible combinations is reduced to 24. That’s easily cracked and can be done in a matter of moments. Now, if your combination allows for repeating numbers, the combinations increase to 256.

Or do they?

Let’s say you have a keypad and the only grimy numbers are 1 and 9. Well, I think it’s safe to assume you are repeating numbers in your code. That gives us a total of 64 combinations: 1111, 1119, 1199, 1999, etc. Not too hard to crack that one now, huh?

Also, do you know what the most common 4 digit pass code is? It’s the same number President Skroob has on his luggage: 1234. It’s so common of a password that if you walk up to any keypad, there’s an almost 26% chance that it will be 1234. In second place is 1111 and third place is 0000, by the way.

The best defense here is simple: take a page from your average network administrator and change your pass code every 30-180 days. On top of that, try not to make your new pass code have any of the numbers of your old code. That way, it keeps overused keys from getting worn down more than the rest.

Also make a point to clean your keypad every now and then. Wipe it down with some rubbing alcohol to remove those corrosive fingerprints and grime. It’s not a bad idea to make cleaning your keypads a part of your gun cleaning regimen i.e. whenever you have to clean one of your guns, clean your keypads too. That is, of course, if you go shooting more than once a year (which you should).

Remember to avoid combinations that would be easy to decipher. Don’t use your address numbers. Don’t use one of those easy to figure out codes.

Most of all, and this is important, don’t write it down someplace that’s easy to find. Even better: don’t write it down at all. As a network administrator, I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve found people’s passwords taped to their monitors. We’re not talking some bottom of the ladder user, either. I’m talking about the passwords for users that have access to billing information and more.

Security isn’t easy. It takes extra steps. When your extra steps help protect your stuff, aren’t they worth it?

 

Image used under Creative Commons license from LifeHouseDesign.


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