• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.10 no.10
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• pp.529-538
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• 2012

This study analyzed a variety of different kinds of usage patterns of four-digit personal identification numbers(PINs) based on the data collected from students attending at A-university in 2011. According to the analysis, the 4 digit PINs '1234' was being used most frequently which is similar to the findings of the study by the Daniel Amitay research. In addition, almost 50 percent of the students were using the four-digit PINs closely related to their personal information, and more than 10 percent of them were using it only by the reason of easiness to remember or convenience to use. Number '0' was the most frequently used, and girl students used it more than boys did. According to the result of analysis of four-digit PINs, it was found that number '1' was the most frequently used in the first and the third position. It was also found that number '2' and number '4' were the most frequently used in the second and the forth position respectively. Among students who had used number 3 in third position, around 63.6 percent of those students were using number 4 in the forth position in their PINs which showed highest frequency from analysis of double-digits connected together in each position. The analysis of PINs were represented by the polygonal (type) graph with that X-axis showed from first to forth position and Y-axis showed number had been used at each position. Among many polygonal graphs, the form showed an N-type which was called in type 1 took the first place by 35 percent.