A Foolproof Pin Code Invention
Four business students have won an international competition for their invention of a nearly foolproof way to stop the practice of thieves being able to figure out pin-codes of people withdrawing money from ATMs.
The girls, students at Århus Business College, came up with the idea after a programme about an elderly woman who had her bank account cleaned out because a thief gained access to her pin-code. The four are part of the school’s entrepreneurial programme with their newly-established Techsisca company, which is now expected to earn millions on the invention.
The invention is a graphically innovative screen table, where the numbers between 1 and 9 change positions with each use, unlike an ordinary keyboard where thieves can determine what numbers are being punched by following a person’s finger movements. In addition, the screen has a blur feature that makes it unable to be seen clearly from a side view.
Top prize went to the girls when they introduced their discovery at this past weekend’s Young Enterprise international trade show in Austria, where 47 businesses from 17 European countries were on hand.
‘We’re really proud of winning the award which only makes us want to work harder for the business,’ said Techsisca’s leader, Lotte Lykke. ‘We’ve already begun the process of getting our patent on the product.’
Image via wangjianshuo
Braz on April 10th, 2008 8:15 am
This is not something new at all. This method is very well known in Brazil and used by many banks.
They cheated.
jaeda on August 5th, 2008 8:45 pm
yeah! if i were you, before you post something that you have, make sure you were the one’s who done it.
Angela on August 6th, 2008 7:02 am
If you’ve ever played Runescape, they use that kind of pin punch-in for the bank accounts on the game. So their idea isn’t really different, but it is something I would like to see used when it comes to my bank and punching in the pin there. Or when I have to enter my pin at stores (when I purchase something using my debit card), especially when the next person in line is trying to stare over my shoulder.
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