The safest 4-digit PIN is ‘8068’ — or at least it was, until researchers at Data Genetics told everyone this week. The researchers there went through a set of 3.4 million four-digit personal identification numbers and found “8068” came up only 25 times.

Data Genetics crunched the numbers (based on “released/exposed/discovered password tables and security breaches”) used in the graphic, and came up with some fascinating finds: You can crack more than 10 percent of random PINs by dialing in 1234. Expanding a bit, 1234, 0000, and 1111, make up about 20 percent.

10,000 possible combinations
There are 10,000 possible combinations that the digits 0-9 can be arranged into to form a four-digit code.

It would take up to 112 hours to brute force a 4 digit PIN, because each PIN entry takes 40 seconds.

As such, each PIN entry takes approximately 40 seconds, meaning that it would take up to ~111 hours to bruteforce a 4 digit PIN.

As such, each PIN entry takes approximately 40 seconds, meaning that it would take up to ~111 hours to bruteforce a 4 digit PIN. A four digit PIN code is never going to be as strong at protecting your iPhone or iPad as a longer, hard-to-guess password.

How easy would it be for a thief to guess your four-digit PIN? If he were forced to guess randomly, his odds of getting the correct number would be one in 10,000—or, if he has three tries, one in 3,333.

10000
10. 10 = 104 = 10000 total possible PIN numbers. To have no repeated digits, all four digits would have to be different, which is selecting without replacement.

Statistical analysis of a recent data breach of 3.4 million 4 digit pins showed that the most common pin was (wait for it…) “1234”. This accounted for 10% of all pin codes. 26.8% could be cracked by the top 20 pins.

You can crack more than 10 percent of random PINs by dialing in 1234. Expanding a bit, 1234, 0000, and 1111, make up about 20 percent. 26.83 percent of passwords can be cracked using the top 20 combinations.

If you have 4 digits and then need to do something to verify the combination there is no shortcut but you have to test all 10000 combinations giving 40000 digit keystrokes plus 10000 of the verification action.

For the data set used, 8068 is the “safest” password, used just 25 times out of 3.4 million. Birthday years are big. The 1900 PINS–1986, 1960, 1991, and so on–are extremely popular, with PINs from later in the century used the most.