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Comment by corin_ | Hacker News Reader

HN title is not the original title, and it is incorrect. This is not "3-digit passwords", rather "4-digit passwords containing only three unique digits".

Assuming it will get changed at some point making me look foolish, HN title at time of posting is "3-digit iPhone password is more secure than 4-digits". Original title from the source is "Game theory and probability of iPhone passwords".

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It's not incorrect. At the bottom of the blog post, they explore different ways to "trick" people trying to look at the fingerprints

If that weren’t enough, my friend actually brainstormed a couple of other ways to improve the password.

like using three digits but tapping a phantom fourth number once the code is entered…. so there are four “tap prints” but only three which are relevant!

But that's still using three unique digits. 1123 uses only three digits, but that doesn't make it a three-digit number, it's still a four-digit number.

You're right Corin - the title is a little misleading with hindsight. However, I was trying to reflect the angle that made the page interesting (ie that it's counter-intuitive that using less unique digits is more secure) whilst still trying to fit it within character limits.

If you are still able to edit the title (can't remember when HN stops letting you do that), a more suitible one might be something along the lines of "iPhone 4-digit passcodes more secure when containing only 3 unique digits".

Done - thanks for the suggestion Corin!

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