We conducted an online study with $n = 235$ Signal users on their understanding and usage of PINs in Signal. In our study, we observe a split in PIN management and composition strategies between users who can explain the purpose of the Signal PINs (56%; enthusiasts) and users who cannot (44%; casual users). Encouraging adoption of PINs by Signal appears quite successful: only 14% opted-out of setting a PIN entirely. Among those who did set a PIN, most enthusiasts had long, complex alphanumeric PINs generated by and saved in a password manager. Meanwhile more casual Signal users mostly relied on short numeric-only PINs. Our results suggest that better communication about the purpose of the Signal PIN could help more casual users understand the features PINs enable (such as that it is not simply a personal identification number). This communication could encourage a stronger security posture.

翻译：我们进行了一项在线研究,使用美元=235美元信号用户了解和使用信号中PIN用户的情况。在我们的研究中,我们看到PIN管理和组成战略在能够解释信号PIN目的的用户(56%;爱好者)和不能解释信号PIN目的的用户(44%;临时用户)之间有分歧。鼓励信号采用PIN似乎相当成功:只有14%选择完全设置PIN。在曾经设置PIN的用户中,大多数爱好者拥有由密码管理者产生并保存的长而复杂的字母数字PIN。与此同时,更多的临时信号用户大多依赖短数字专用密码。我们的结果表明,就信号PIN目的进行更好的沟通,可以帮助更多的临时用户了解PIN的功能(例如,它不仅仅是个人识别号码)。这种沟通可以鼓励加强安全态势。