Q&A: Is a 6 digit PIN really all that much more secure than 4 digits?

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Question from Andy: My girlfriend and I have a bet that’s riding on your answer to this question:

Is a six digit PIN really all that more secure than a four digit PIN?

It don’t seem like just two digits could make that much of a difference. She says it makes a big difference if someone ever tries to break into my phone.

So who’s right?

If you agree with me she has to take me out to dinner. If you agree with her I have to cook her a steak dinner with all the fixin’s. We both subscribe to your blog and we’ll trust your opinion.

Rick’s answer: I hate to have to tell you this Andy, but you’re gonna have to to prepare that steak dinner for your girlfriend.

A six digit PIN isn’t just slightly more secure than a four digit pin. It’s actually a LOT more secure. And that isn’t an opinion, it’s a statistical fact. Here’s why…

A four digit PIN has 10,000 possible combinations. I know that sounds pretty impressive, but it’s actually quite easy to break using various electronic methods.

However, a six digit pin has a whopping 1 million possible combinations, and that makes it LOT harder and a LOT more time-consuming to break using the currently available methods.

And get this: Some devices allow the use of alphanumeric PINS (a combination of numbers and letters). If you use just one letter and five numbers for your six digit PIN the number of possible combinations increases to a whopping 15,600,000.

And for even stronger security, if you use two letters and four numbers the number of possible combinations explodes to a mind-blowing 676,000,000! And every letter you substitute for one of the numbers after that increases the number of possible combinations exponentially.

Bottom line: If you secure a device (or an online account for that matter) with a PIN, using a six digit PIN will provide a LOT more protection than selecting a pin with just four digits. Substitute a letter for one of the six numbers and you’ll have a PIN that’s extremely difficult and very time-consuming to break.

Of course a 6 digit PIN is more difficult to memorize, but the vast amount of extra security it provides makes it well worth the effort in my humble opinion. Besides, since most people remember their nine digit SSN, a six digit PIN should be relatively easy to memorize.

Bonus tip: Since we’re discussing an aspect of security, here’s something that can help keep your home and family safe. (#ad)