Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Why Love is Not the Answer for Your Passcode

Daniel Amitay posts the most common passcodes used by iPhone users:

Click to enlarge.

Amitay notes:
Naturally, 1234 is the most common passcode: mimicking the most common internet passwords. To put this into perspective, these 10 codes represent 15% of all passcodes in use. Most of the top passcodes follow typical formulas, such as four identical digits, moving in a line up/down the pad, repetition. 5683 is the passcode with the least obvious pattern, but it turns out that it is the number representation of LOVE (5683), once again mimicking a very common internet password: “iloveyou.”
Amitay also comments on how easy it is to crack open an iPhone using one of these passcodes:
Formulaic passwords are never a good idea, yet 15% of all passcode sets were represented by only 10 different passcodes (out of a possible 10,000). The implication? A thief (or just a prankster) could safely try 10 different passcodes on your iPhone without initiating the data wipe. With a 15% success rate, about 1 in 7 iPhones would easily unlock--even more if the intruder knows the users’ years of birth, relationship status, etc.
All though I would hope people are more careful setting up their ATM code some probably are not.If you see your number above, it's time to change your password.

1 comment:

  1. I think apple should move the emergency call button to not discourage people from using 7 (as 7 isn't in any of the above password).

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