Emojis: Coming Soon To A Password Near You

Get your winky face ready, emojis are stepping into security.
How many four-digit personal identification numbers (PINs) do you use on a regular basis? Those tricky little codes could soon be replaced by the world’s favorite icons: emojis. A British security firm, Intelligent Environments, has launched an alternative to regular passwords, introducing emojis as an access option for online banking services.
While using an emoji might seem somewhat ridiculous and potentially unsafe, Intelligent Environments explains that an replacing PIN with emoji is actually more secure if used correctly.

The firm explains in their promotional video that the human brain is naturally wired to form memories in images rather than numbers and characters. This explains why we spend so much time filling out forms after clicking the ‘forgot password’ link. Intelligent Environments conducted a survey of 1,300 individuals and found that over one-third of those questioned had at one time or another forgotten their PINs.

 
As for security, the options for a non-repeating pin with numerals allows for 7,290 different options, whereas with Intelligent Environment’s application there are three and a half million different permutations available. This makes it much harder for hackers to access your PIN using brute force methods and keeps your accounts safer.
By foregoing our everyday pins for emojis, Intelligent Environments believes that not only will PINs become easier to remember and harder to break, they will also be fun as people can create a password that looks like a story being told through tiny little icons, which should be especially popular among Millennials.

 
David Webber, Manager Director at Intelligent Environments, explains, “We’ve had input from lots of Millennials when we developed the technology. What’s clear is that the younger generation is communicating in new ways. So we decided to reinvent the passcode for a new generation by developing the world’s first emoji security technology.”.

What story would your emoji password tell? Let us know with a Tweet @Midphase