A UK company claims to have invented the idea of using a set of emoji to replace a PIN number, suggesting that our stupid brains find it easier to remember the silly drawing people face things and that the increased complexity of the emoji character set makes brute-forcing into our bank accounts substantially harder.
This is all coming from Intelligent Environments, which says its emoji PIN system is ready to go right now. The small print explains the maths behind the claim of enhanced security, calculating: Traditional PIN = 7,290 unique permutations of four non-repeating numbers vs Emoji Passcode = 3,498,308 million unique permutations of non-repeating emojis, based on a selection size of 44 emoji.
If that doesnt get you all hot for internet security matters, it quotes Memory expert Tony Buzan as saying: The Emoji Passcode plays to humans extraordinary ability to remember pictures, which is anchored in our evolutionary history. We remember more information when its in pictorial form, thats why the Emoji Passcode is better than traditional PINs.
