Your home alarm system is a great tool to protect your house against burglary. You know that if someone were ever to break into your home, they’d trip a sensor and set off your alarm- triggering a siren and police dispatch. But there’s an extra layer of security that you control: your PIN, or Personal Identification Number. Hopefully, you and your family are the only people who ever enter your home, but if someone who isn’t supposed to be there attempts to, the first thing they’ll try to do is to disarm your alarm system. By making your PIN a challenge, you add an extra layer of security and will ensure that the siren will sound and the police are on their way. The big question though is how do you choose the best PIN?

Eliminate Common Factors:

Significantly, you’ll need to remember your PIN. You’ll use it every day multiple times and you need to make sure that you are one of the people who can easily turn off your alarm system. It won’t help if you forget it. The challenge is that many people pick things that are too easy to remember. It’s important to avoid significant dates in your life. Dates are often a common choice for four digit PINs as they’re easy to remember and fit the pattern, either by the month and day, or by the year. Birthdays and anniversaries are common choices, and may be easy to find if the person breaking in knows you. In addition, most years that people will choose begin with either “19XX” or “20XX” and it gives the burglar a great chance of accidentally stumbling upon the correct one.

Make sure to keep your PIN varied. It’s good to stay away from sequential numbers, as well as a sequence of even or odd numbers. Make sure to also use several numbers in your PIN. The more numbers you use, the harder it is to guess! Forego numbers that others may think of too. Try to avoid pop culture references, as others may think of those too!

Stay Away From “Default” PINs:

Often a security system will come with a default PIN. It’s important to change this PIN as soon as you feel comfortable doing so and start using the system. This way you’ll know you’re the only one who can arm and disarm your system. Immediately, it will provide you with an extra layer of security.

Select a Better PIN:

Try selecting a four digit number that may mean something to you, but there would be no easy record of it, such as the last four digits of the phone number of a friend. You can also take a four letter word and use it’s numeric counterpart, like on a telephone. This way, no one will be able to know what word you selected, let alone translate it into numbers.

Though it's important to know and remember your PIN, it's a good practice to change your PIN regularly. With SimpliSafe, it’s easy to change your PIN.You can change your Master PIN through the keypad, through the Easy Setup Wizard or if you have the Interactive Monitoring plan, right online through your customer account. Don’t worry though! In order to change your PIN, someone will need your current PIN or password to do so. Your settings are always protected.

Have different PINs for different accounts. There’s no need to make your home security system PIN, your bank account PIN and your voicemail PIN the same number. This way, if someone knows one you're still protected!

Your PIN is an important layer of your home’s security. Be smart when you choose your PIN, and anyone trying to guess it won’t stand a chance. Your home is safe and secure when you know you’re the only person who can access it.