How Secure Is Your Keyless Entry Code?

By Kelly Leighton
July 21, 2020
2 min.

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Keyless entry to a home may feel like a safe and convenient way to secure your home, but how easy is your passcode to guess? And how often are you telling people?

A recent survey from ADT found that most people, 71%, said they were not comfortable sharing their code with someone who lived outside the home, but 30% of those with keyless access said they had shared the code with someone. The majority (59%) of those who shared it said they had shared it with friends, family (54%) and a significant other (27%). However, 18% said cleaning, service and repair people, along with 10% who said colleagues and 9% of babysitters also received codes from owners. Men are more likely than women to share their code with friends, they reported.

While half of respondents said their code wasn’t based on anything in particular, of those who did use something significant to them, 16% used a family member’s birthday, 14% used an anniversary, 9% used their birthday and 6% used their Social Security number as a code. Twenty percent of people are also guilty of reusing their codes for different accounts. Sixty-one percent use the same numbers as their bank account PIN, 58% use the same as their phone password and 43% use the same password for their email address.

Of the people who use the same numbers for their keyless entry as their bank account, 58% of those have shared that code with someone outside their home within the past six months.

Beyond keyless entry, some people feel comfortable giving personal info out to both family and friends. Forty-four percent of respondents said they feel fine with family members knowing the last four digits of their Social Security number, 43% said the same about their phone passcode and 34% said they are comfortable with family knowing their debit card PIN. Friends didn’t have as much access as family, but still 28% reported giving their phone passcode to friends, 14% said their social media account password and 13% said the last four digits of their Social Security number.