A research participated by 1,300 people revealed that one-third of the respondents had, in one way or another, forgotten their PIN codes and that 64 percent among those who are referred to as millennials said that they regularly use emoji whenever they communicate.
As an attempt to finally put an end to the dilemma of memorizing as well as the horror of forgetting one's PIN codes, a British software company came up with a new passcode system that uses emojis instead of the traditional PIN code which is based on a numerical sequence.
"We've had input from lots of millennials when we developed the technology," said David Webber, managing director at Intelligent Environments. "What's clear is that the younger generation is communicating in new ways. Our research shows 64 percent of millennials regularly communicate only using emojis. So we decided to reinvent the passcode for a new generation by developing the world's first emoji security technology."
It is commonly believed that most people tend to remember pictures and images more easily than words and sentences. This picture-inclination can also be noticed by the way people these days use emojis when sending and responding to messages. They think that a single emoji is enough to express a thought and that using emojis somehow stimulate the mind's imagination and that it encourages creativity and individuality.
"If we persist in using passwords, which seem to be here for a while yet, we need to recognize how humans think and make these as easy to remember as possible," said Prof Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity expert. "The combinations and permutations present a would-be hacker with having to run through a number of cycles that is even greater than they do for so-called dictionary attacks."
According to Alan Brown, product development manager at Intelligent Environments, using emojis would require a would-be hacker to break more than three million password combinations which make it significantly more difficult to decode as compared to the 7,290 possible combinations brought by using PIN codes.
"Images are the prime way of remembering anything you want to remember...with the emoji password you help build stories and the brain loves stories, so you remember it," said Tony Buzan, a memory expert who had spoken on behalf of Intelligent Environments.
The notion that people can easily remember images compared to numbers is supported not only by memory experts but also by a common theory.
"Forgetting passwords is because the brain doesn't work digitally or verbally," added Buzan.
The company plans to use the new emoji passcode system as the latest method to create a safer online banking environment. With the new system, it hopes to make the financial service sector more innovative and secure while adding a hint of fun at the same time.
