In light of the recent LastPass Data Breach incident, we are providing you with helpful pointers on How to use a strong Master Password using a Password Manager.
As LastPass’s first data breach occurred in August 2022, the Password Manager Company warned their customers about an ‘unknown threat actor’ that may attempt to use brute force to guess master passwords/target customers with phishing attacks/credential stuffing as the actor had accessed their cloud-based storage environment and encrypted password vaults.
Read more about this at https://blog.lastpass.com/2022/12/notice-of-recent-security-incident/
A Secure Password Protection Manager Tool allows you to save and manage all your password protection in one space so that you don’t have to remember unlimited passwords under some password policy. Here are some of the security measures that you can adopt while creating a Master Password:
- Use a Unique Password: Make sure your Master Password is different from your existing application/account personal passwords viz. G-Mail, Facebook, Instagram to ensure your password manager doesn’t get compromised if one of your other online accounts gets hacked due to weak passwords.
- Keep it safe: Don’t write down your master password or share it with anyone. If you need to remember it, try using a mnemonic device or password manager tool to manage the password lists to help you recall it. Don’t use any device for password saving. Avoid saving passwords on your mobile device.
- Make it strong: Create a strong password that is difficult to guess by anyone by making it at least 12 characters long and using a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters so that no one break the security breach. E.g., Setting Confetti’s!442 as C0nfett!5!442
- Avoid including Personal Information: Don’t include personal information in your master password that is directly related to you. E.g., your name or your home address.
- Use multi – factor authentication: Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for your password manager to add an extra layer of security in case your master password is compromised. This will require you to enter an additional code (such as a one-time passcode sent to your phone) to access your password manager.
- Update it regularly: Change your master password every few months, or whenever you think it may have been compromised to keep your password manager secure for a security update.
It is important to remember that the no cryptographic algorithm is completely hack-proof. As computing power and methods of attack continue to evolve, it is possible that new techniques may be developed that could potentially be used to break these cryptographic algorithms. For this reason, it is important for users to choose strong, unique passwords, complex passwords, and password protection while using a password manager to help protect their accounts.
Sources:
https://www.keepersecurity.com/blog/2022/10/21/youre-only-as-strong-as-your-master-password/
https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/lastpass-breach-timeline/639725/
