PINer

PINer is a PIN management framework consisting of a library, reference implementation, and accompanying tools designed to manage Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) used for authentication and access control. It provides facilities for PIN generation, secure storage, verification, rotation, and revocation across heterogeneous systems such as ATMs, card payment terminals, corporate access systems, and mobile apps.

PINer supports multiple PIN schemes, including static PINs, dynamic PINs, and one-time PINs (OTPs). For OTPs, it implements HOTP and TOTP algorithms standardized in RFC 4226 and RFC 6238. The framework also enforces policy-driven PIN length, allowed character sets, retry limits, expiry, and non-reuse rules to balance usability and security.

The architecture of PINer typically includes a central PIN service, client SDKs for various platforms, a secure vault for PIN storage, an administrative user interface, and adapters for hardware security modules or secure elements. It is designed for deployment on premises or in the cloud and emphasizes strong access controls, logging, and auditing to support regulatory compliance.

Security and compliance in PINer focus on cryptographic protection of PIN data, using salted hashes and key derivation functions such as PBKDF2 or Argon2, along with optional peppering. Transport security is provided by TLS, and defense-in-depth measures include rate limiting, anomaly detection, and robust PIN lifecycle management. Standards alignment commonly referenced with PINer includes PCI-DSS and ISO 27001, as well as interoperability with existing identity and access management systems.

See also: Personal identification number, HOTP, TOTP, PBKDF2, Argon2, HSM.