Has it only been for the last 20 years or so that our professional, domestic and financial integrity has required us to protect ourselves with a personal identity number (PIN) or password of some description?
Memorising such a catchy or familiar word, an easy sequence of figures or a combination of both, has now become, not only commonplace, but an evolutionary necessity. I presume that it was the electronic revolution that ‘sparked’ the need for this type of validation. Previously, a hastily scribbled signature, which – to the untrained eye – appeared reasonably similar to the scrawl on the back of your credit card, might have suffic
