Most people manage to memorise the PIN necessary to access their money in an ATM because they use it frequently. The ones that evade recall are PIN's less frequently used. There seems an overwhelming need to commit them to a disguised form and kept hidden somewhere in purse or wallet.
The most frequent form of disguise for a four number PIN is to precede it with a common two number telephone exchange code, thus making it appear as an innocent telephone number. Unfortunately, the criminal fraternity is aware of this dodge.
There is a simple way of encrypting PIN's so that they can be openly written - and yet be completely safe from detection by others.
All that is needed is the selection of a ten letter word or phrase - which contains no repetition of letters.
Suppose the word you have chosen is P N E U M A T I C S
Simply apply numbers. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Now - suppose your PIN is 6310 . You can safely write is somewhere as AEPS.
Your PIN is safe, provided you never divulge your " WORD " to others, and it can easily be retrieved by a little mental gymnastics when standing at the ATM.
The same system can be applied to computer passwords. We are allowed to choose our own passwords, but more and more access is limited to a mix of letters and numbers - and a six sequence has become a requirement.
Add two letters to the mix by selecting a common denominator - as an example - perhaps the month of your birth. Let us say that was JUNE. Make the first and last letter of JUNE the first two letters of your password.
You could - using the PIN example above - construct a computer password that was :
JE6310
A meaningless jumble of letters - JEAEPS - which means absolutely nothing is observed by another person.
With a little ingenuity - the PIN and Password problems can be easily solved.
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