Personal identification number

The PIN has been the key to facilitating the private data exchange between different data-processing centers in computer networks for financial institutions, governments, and enterprises.[1] PINs may be used to authenticate banking systems with cardholders, governments with citizens, enterprises with employees, and computers with users, among other uses.The PIN originated with the introduction of the automated teller machine (ATM) in 1967, as an efficient way for banks to dispense cash to their customers.[8] James Goodfellow, the inventor who patented the first personal identification number, was awarded an OBE in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.[12] In 1972, Atalla filed U.S. patent 3,938,091 for his PIN verification system, which included an encoded card reader and described a system that utilized encryption techniques to assure telephone link security while entering personal ID information that was transmitted to a remote location for verification.The system was designed to let banks and thrift institutions switch to a plastic card environment from a passbook program.The Identikey system consisted of a card reader console, two customer PIN pads, intelligent controller and built-in electronic interface package.)[34]In 2002, two PhD students at Cambridge University, Piotr Zieliński and Mike Bond, discovered a security flaw in the PIN generation system of the IBM 3624, which was duplicated in most later hardware.Known as the decimalization table attack, the flaw would allow someone who has access to a bank's computer system to determine the PIN for an ATM card in an average of 15 guesses.[37] The intention of this scheme would be to protect victims of muggings; however, despite the system being proposed for use in some US states,[38][39] there are no ATMs currently in existence that employ this software.If enabled, the PIN (also called a passcode) for GSM mobile phones can be between four and eight digits[41] and is recorded in the SIM card.Note that this should not be confused with software-based passcodes that are often used on smartphones with lock screens: these are not related to the device's cellular SIM card, PIN and PUC.