A Simple techniqe to Scramble your important PIN numbers

[Mikefromlondon]

We have been there before ...

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12584

-0-

Jesus! so I am 10 years behind!

Oh well if only I knew, but problems inspire answers and new ideas, hence why i came up with mine using just two memorable digits, the idea of adding or subtracting a memorable long number just once is a little vulnerable, but when carried out using two steps it gets a lot more complex and hence more harder to decypher

There is a close resemblence in this system to a XOR function but this one you could say is being xored to decimal system instead of to a binary system.

 

[gigz]

Surely its easier to remember four digits than all this bull.

 

[Micilin]

Has anyone here ever had someone hack their PIN?

 

[luke_vibert_uk]

I use the PIN 1234. Its so obvious no one would ever bother trying it...

 

[mattylad]

Booger that for a game of soldiers!

I use Lastpass, have the app on my phone and can keep all my pins safe behind a single secure password.

Its hard enough remembering 1 pin but when I then start to use another card I tend to forget the pin from the first one, had to ring the wife up the last time lol.

With them all safely secure in the phone I don't need to worry about convoluted methods like the OP has posted.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Nothing is safe these days , store it wherever you want, in your iphone, in your wife's phone, on your laptop or not, the only safe place for any raw password is in your head, otherwise you scramble it then store it practically anywhere since it won't be any good to anyone in its scrambled format, so you just got to remember the two key numbers to unscramble any written scrambled password.

There are people whio can even restore deleted files from a HD, or any other memeory card system, since deleating any files on deletes its headers and not the actual contents, so if you downloaded or stored anything that constitute illegal, and thought you can be safe after you had deleted files in case of falling in the hands of investegators, you are wrong, they can reterive original data when they want it, if they want it,

Only place for a secure pasword storage is in your head.

 

[EddieM]

Nothing is safe these days , store it wherever you want, in your iphone, in your wife's phone, on your laptop or not, the only safe place for any raw password is in your head, otherwise you scramble it then store it practically anywhere since it won't be any good to anyone in its scrambled format, so you just got to remember the two key numbers to unscramble any written scrambled password.

There are people whio can even restore deleted files from a HD, or any other memeory card system, since deleating any files on deletes its headers and not the actual contents, so if you downloaded or stored anything that constitute illegal, and thought you can be safe after you had deleted files in case of falling in the hands of investegators, you are wrong, they can reterive original data when they want it, if they want it,

Only place for a secure pasword storage is in your head.

Until you unsuspectingly type ur PIN into a fake card reader which scans ur keystrokes.. hmmm!

 

[mattylad]

No, its certainly not safe in my head.

I have the memory of a goldfish, in fact after a few seconds I tend to......

hmm, what was I saying?

 

[Mikefromlondon]

No, its certainly not safe in my head.

I have the memory of a goldfish, in fact after a few seconds I tend to......

hmm, what was I saying?

I am the same mate, I only have two cards, one a credit and the other a Debit, and I tend to spend more of my debit card so I can remember its pin as I use it for my shopping when i go out, of course no one uses their pin numbers to do online shopping, so if you don't use it frequently, some time later you will find it hard to remember, similarly I use my credit card very very rarely, when doing actual shopping in person, but one day i came unstuck when my debit card payement was declined for some technical reason rather than no funds, so in the end I had to leave my shopping behind and come back home empty! Then I had a job trying to remember where I wrote that pin number disguised as part of a friends telephone number, in the end I couldn't find it so had to ask credit card company to send me another pin!

However, I am sure If I had written it boldly on a wall or somewhere where I can neasily see it as a credit card number, but in a scrambled format, I could then descramble it using the two or three or even fourt digit secret number that i can always remember, this secret number should be something not based on your birthday, because then everyone could guess your birthdate, as that would be the first 4 digit number you are less likely to forget and can then be guessed easily by others.

It it should be a number that you are unlikely to forget, can be the year you went to school for the first time, or lost your virginity for the first time! (LOL) Or the year your favourate team won the cup, or your favourite person's DOB, make this number hard to guess by others.

anything that impacted your life and you are unlikely to forget, things like it may be the year you passed your driving test, or got married, or lost your granddad etc etc. Don't use your Birthdate or year you were born or your house number.

Also you should never use your mother's real maiden name, when asked to set up recovery parameters for your internet passwords, anyone can easily find out what your mother's real maiden name was, use words like Duckling or even numbers here instead.

 

[JBR]

Duckling?

 

[foxhole]

I remember my pass, my 16 credit card number , auth code, bank sort code and account numbers [three accounts]without problem. The joys of being slightly autistic.
If only I could remember to hide my wallet from the Mrs.

My first wife assures me that I'm slightly autistic too.

So why, then, can I remember b*****r all?

Maybe she meant artistic?

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Right guys, jokes and other things asside,

you can also scramble your pin numbers by using a 4 digit favourite or your memorabel number in just 1 step.

Same principle applies, you just SUBTRACT but do not carry out any overflows or borrow from the next digit, but if a number you are subtracting is smaller, then treat that number as if you had borrowed from the adjacent digit, leaving adjacent digit unchanged.

1 9 9 3 (This is your 4 digit favourite number or something you will always remember and is special to you)

5 9 3 7 is your actual pin number that you want to scramble such that you can write it down in a diary and it would be very safe and would be most useless to others. This scrambled number will enable you to recover your actual Pin number should you forget it.

So now the scrambled number would be:

1 9 9 3 Your memorable number
5 9 3 7 Your actual card pin number you have to mentally remember.
--------
6 0 6 6 This is the Scrambled number you write down in your Diary.


Now when you have forgotten your 5 9 3 7 actual pin number, you can use your scrambled number to reterive this forgotten Pin number

Do the SUBTRACTION of your scrambled number from your Memorable number as shown

1 9 9 3
6 0 6 6
--------
5 9 3 7 thus arriving at your forgotten Pin number in one step.

 

[EddieM]

But now you run the risk of forgetting whether you used method 1 or method 2

 

[empip]

I agree ! Well, I did 10yr ago !

Forgot to mention placing the plus sign before or after the encrypted number as a reminder that the number is encrypted and the memorable number should be added as described to restore the pin.

"
Joined: 24 Feb 2004
Posts: 4046
Location: Somerset,
United Kingdom
Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2004 8:14 am

Just had a thought ... must not write down pin number ... I agree with that !! ... hmmmm! could disguise as phone number and save in mobile phone, but that is tantamount to writing down the pin ... a no,no !
So a with little subterfuge.

Birthdate for example 05/09/99 or 050999.
Pin number example 6511. (4 digit combinations 10x10x10x10=10,000)

Use 4 digits from dob ..say the final four 0999. (essential to use easy to remember combination )
Take this number away from the real pin number. DO NOT COMPLETE THE 'CARRY' OPERATION this adds a little spice, also ensures 4 digit code.

6 5 1 1
0 9 9 9 -
--------
6 6 2 2
The number to write down is 6622, a useless number to most people.

But with the key, in this case one's birthdate final 4 digits, it is easy to convert to pin number.
ADD final 4 digits of birthdate to our 'useless' number, AGAIN DO NOT COMPLETE THE CARRY OPERATION.
6 6 2 2
0 9 9 9 +
--------
6 5 1 1 One valid pin number .

The only number to remember is the birthdate, write modified pin number down anywhere as it has no real meaning .. and, importantly, contravenes no bank regulations
Oh, and if need to write the calc down ... destroy that note when done !!"

-0-

 

[Mikefromlondon]

Yup your method is just as good, the only draw back is you have to remember whether to add or subtract, and so if you don't use this process on a regular bases, you could get confused and subtract intead of addition, mine uses Subtraction for both scrambling and descrambling. I would say a wee bit better (though i don't like self praising!)

The key difference in your method and mine is that You subtarct your special memorable number from the pin, and then come up with the scrambled number, and to recover your pin number you are adding your special number to your scrambled number,

whereas, I simply Subtract my pin number from the special memorable number and arrive at my scrambled number and if I now forget my pin, I can simply Subtract again the scrambled number from my special number.

In my method you just got to remember that you only need to perform Subtraction., so no need to worry about whether to subtract first or add first as in your method. mine is (not self praising) a little more tweaked concept!

however, both methods are good, and anyone wanting to scramble passwords or pin numbers can choose whichever method they prefer.
The whole idea is to never write down your Pin numbers as they are without first using some scrambling technique.