British financial services firm Intelligent Environments caused a stir last week when it announced that it would let its customers use emoji passcodes to log into their accounts. The company launched ...

At the moment, passcodes on smartphones and tablets use numbers, and the majority of devices rely on a 4-digit PIN number. This method, while widely adopted, has its limitations and vulnerabilities.

Soon, you might be able to log into your bank account with a litany of smiling poo emojis, or a string of little chicken wing images, or multiple little monkeys holding their hands over their eyes. On ...