Is LastPass’s Hack the Last Word?

In a word: hardly. LastPass getting breached seems like the equivalent of Fort Knox getting breached; it’s not supposed to happen. So far as we know, none of the gold, which represented the monetary value of US currency in circulation, was ever taken from Fort Knox. But password manager LastPass was breached, and data was taken.

The implications are stunning, to say the least. We’ve put our trust in password manager programs, and LastPass compounded the problem for its customers by being breached twice and not being as quick or transparent about it. From all reports, the latest breach occurred in late August when access was gained to parts of their developer environment through an individual compromised developer account. They said the intruder took some source code and proprietary technical information. In mid-September, they reported that the intruder was in their system for four days, but the incident did not involve any access to customer data or encrypted password vaults.

Just after Thanksgiving, LastPass reported that the knowledge gained from the first breach was used to breach the system again, and that the hacker gained access to certain elements of customer information. Just before Christmas, the hacker got customer account information such as names, billing addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, and their encrypted vaults. They hastened to add the data was strongly encrypted and required decryption of the customer’s master password.

The bad news is that this was a series of breaches; not good. Over time, the attacker was able to target a separate employee to gain two critical pieces of information: access keys to a cloud environment and decryption keys for that cloud environment. This means the attacker was able to easily download copies of those vaults and the other customer data there.

Although each customer’s vault was encrypted, the vaults contained unencrypted information. The attacker likely downloaded all the available information from each and could the unencrypted info to try to crack the master password by brute force.

LastPass doesn’t have the best track record in the industry, and what happened there can happen to any password manager. But you can take steps to minimize the impact if it happens to your password manager.

We highly recommend that you activate two-factor authentication (2FA) for every web-based account you have. Some will give you the option to verify a specific computer, phone or tablet one time, while others will require verification every time you log in. Most systems work through text messages to cell phones because you’re most likely to have your phone with you. Some 2FA systems will send you an email with a code to enter or a link to click. They’re good if your email is secure.

So, make sure you secure your email accounts. Require 2FA – to your cell phone if possible – to access your email account from the web. List a secondary email address in case there’s a problem. It can be through another email provider, or it can be a person you trust.

2FA works with password managers, and it’s effective if the PW manager hasn’t been hacked. If the data is unencrypted, it could have been stolen (another good reason to set up 2FA for a text).

You can manage your password manager and enhance security by keeping it updated. You can change your master password at any time, and you can use the manager to change your passwords at any time. The programs offer random generation of passwords, and you can take advantage of that. It takes away any excuse you have for using the same password for multiple websites.

You can back up your password manager by downloading your website login info from the manager. Most people download the info to a .csv or .xls spreadsheet file. It’s a good idea to do this periodically and store a hard copy in a safe place. If you decide to change password managers, you can export your file to a new password manager. We suggest you create a new master password if you do that and then create new passwords for each account.

There are ways to download your password list with encryption, but they can be a little complicated. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to set up a time for us to walk you through it. You can also contact us with any questions you have about password managers – selecting one or installing one.

Old Security Habits Never Die; They Should

We still seem to see the same bad security habits we’ve always seen. Now, they involve PINs as well as passwords. Here are some bad habits you need to break.

The first bad habit has to do with keeping track of passwords and PINs (Personal Identification Numbers). We’ve discussed passwords ad nauseam, and the problems we find with them are they’re either forgotten, left in places where anyone can see them, used repeatedly, or made so simple that they’re easy to crack.

If you habitually run across any of these problems, you need to seriously think about how you can make your password system stronger. Some of the suggestions we’ve offered include making your passwords long and using a system that lets you vary one or two keystrokes or a word or phrase to keep them different. The system helps you remember your passwords – or at least the ones you use the most or ones you need while away from your computer. In creating your passwords, you’re better off using a longer password instead of a shorter complex one. Longer passwords make it more difficult for hacking software to figure it out.

A related issue is those security questions. Don’t give real answers that involve information in public records. Somebody can easily see where you’ve lived, where you went to school, etc. They can probably find out what your first car was.

PINs are meant to solve most of the issues, but they can run into that “forgetful” problem, too. An additional problem with PINs is that when you change devices, you need to reset the PIN. Again, that can be a real problem if you don’t remember the PIN you used.

Some people use their browser or a feature on their phones to save passwords. The danger there is that those passwords can be easily stolen, especially if you happen to visit a “phishing website,” one that has the look and feel of a legitimate website. When we feel rushed or stressed about things going on in life, we’re more susceptible to clicking one of those links or making a typing mistake. The owners of “phishing websites” typically have website domains related to common typing mistakes – although some companies have those sites, too, to make sure you can reach them. The old habit to break here is to take a deep breath when you’re online to make sure click on a legitimate link or type a domain name correctly.

Rather than use a browser or phone password saver, we recommend you a password manager. Dashlane and Last Pass are two that are well known, but using any manager gives you stronger protection. You’ll need to set aside time to get your password manager properly configured and to enter all the passwords you want to protect. The process includes setting up a master password that gives you access to the electronic vault where all your passwords are stored. The key to success is never, ever forgetting that password or giving it to anyone except one or two trusted people.

Credit card numbers can be hacked, too. A couple of our clients had their numbers stolen, and although they changed passwords, they still wondered what else might be broken in their system.

We can help you with security breaches. We take the time to look closely at your system to see how each change you might make – changing passwords or adding a password manager – will affect you. Our analogy here is to the new kitchen that we’re getting. As we change the room and add things like electrical outlets or lighting fixtures, we have to open holes in our walls and ceiling, and we don’t know what’s there until we get them open. It’s the same with your tech system. Without looking at everything, we can’t tell how one change will affect your system.

Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your needs and do the appropriate patching, including installing and configuring a password manager.

Generated Passwords Resolve Two Issues

During the recent holidays, I decided to get around to that one project I’d been meaning to do: change all my passwords. I have 241 unique passwords, and even though my password manager at the time gave them strong scores, I just wasn’t happy with the whole situation. So, I dived into a project for the generations.

As you should expect, I’ve read all the security alerts and everything I could find out about layers of security at the websites I visit for personal matters and those I use to serve clients. Each site is different, and that includes the two-factor authentication steps. It should give you comfort to know that using website passwords can be as complex as nuclear-launch codes – though it’s not comforting to think that any code can be cracked.

Randomly generated passwords that are frequently changed offer the best protection against cracking, which is why nuclear-launch codes always change – and why codes for keyless-entry systems for homes, cars and garages are essentially one-time codes designed to thwart anyone with a code scanner who sits near your car or home. Some password managers can change random passwords automatically when a website requires. No matter which one you use, you’ll need to have a master password – and that’s the only password you’ll need to remember.

Changing all of your passwords is not a task for the faint-of-heart. You’ll need to have a password manager program, such as Dashlane, LastPass or 1Password, and you’ll need to pay attention to details. I happen to like Dashlane for two of its features: random password generation and its integration with all browsers and operating systems. I consider those features to be critical.

When you use a password manager to generate random passwords, you need to pay attention to the requirements of each website. Some websites require the use of symbols, but many of them restrict you to certain symbols. Some require upper- and lower-case letters, and some require numerals. Many websites specify a certain number of characters in a password, such as 8 to 12 or 12 to 16. Just be mindful of all requirements when you set up the random password generator for each website.

One of the steps I took – and something highly recommended for financial websites – was to create a randomly generated password, log in to the site to make sure it worked, and then change it almost immediately. Each randomly generated password should be impossible to remember because it should lack any kind of pattern. For example, there doesn’t appear to be anything meaningful to me in FdXKCX9ZKsw. When a website requires you to change the password, you should have a password manager that does this automatically. Dashlane and LastPass do this, but they handle the process differently.

If you want to change your password manager, you can download all of your passwords so that you can re-enter them in your new password manager.

You should also know that your master password resides locally on your computer or mobile device. If you change computers, phones or tablets, you’ll need to re-enter your master password manually, not all your passwords – and it’s probably a good idea to do so to protect your data.

There are two keys to making a password manager and randomly generated passwords work. One is to make sure that the password manager itself is the latest version available and that you install all updates. Remember, as we’ve said so many times before, updates almost always include security patches and bug fixes.

The other key is to have a strong master password – really a passphrase. An effective passphrase should be something long – 20 to 30 characters – that you can remember and that doesn’t contain any information about you that’s available in public records. It should include upper- and lower-case letters, at least one number and at least one special character. Even if you change it every two or three months, it’s the only one you need to remember.

We can help you evaluate password managers and help you with the installation process. We think passwords have to become extinct as other security measures take hold, but for now, passwords are deeply ingrained in our online lives. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us for password manager help.