Protecting your Personal Access Code (PAC)

There are things you can do to protect your Personal Access Code.

• Your Personal Access Code is just like the PIN you use with your account access card.  It should always remain confidential. Never reveal this code to anyone. Also, you should never write your Personal Access Code down anywhere.

• Avoid choosing Personal Access Codes that contain words that can be found in a dictionary of any kind – this will make it harder for anyone to guess your Personal Access Code.

• Do not choose a Personal Access Code that is based on your date of birth or an alphabetical code that is a recognisable part of your name.

• Change your Personal Access Code regularly – once a month is ideal.  After you’ve changed your Personal Access Code try to use it again on the same day. This will  help you remember the new code.

• When you select a new Personal Access Code, don’t choose one that is similar to your old Personal Access Code.  For example, if you chose 'tbm1976$' for your first Personal Access Code, it would not be a good idea to simply add ‘one’ to the number – eg 'tbm1977$'.  It is best to start over and choose new letters, numbers and special characters.

Hints on choosing a Personal Access Code (PAC)

Follow the steps below to create a Personal Access Code (PAC) that is both secure and easy to remember:

• Pick a short phrase or line from a song you can remember easily (i.e. three blind mice).
• Take the first letter of each word – 'three blind mice' or 'tbm'
• Now choose a number you can easily remember.  Make sure it isn’t your age, birthday, street or telephone number or any other number that could easily be guessed by someone else.  For example, the date your first car was manufactured, let’s say 1976.
• Combine the letters and numbers – 'tbm1976'
• Now add a special character that you can remember, say for example, a ‘$’ sign.

Now the Personal Access Code you have created is 'tbm1976$', which is unlikely to ever be guessed by anyone.