Password manager LastPass, reportedly used by more than 33 million users, recently announced that it was hacked, and although it reports that no passwords of users were compromised in the incident, unfortunately, its source code was stolen.
According to LastPass
“We have determined that an unauthorized party gained access to portions of the LastPass development environment through a single compromised developer account and took portions of source code and some proprietary LastPass technical information. Our products and services are operating normally…
“Based on what we have learned and implemented, we are evaluating further mitigation techniques to strengthen our environment. We have included a brief FAQ below of what we anticipate will be the most pressing initial questions and concerns from you. We will continue to update you with the transparency you deserve.”
LastPass has informed its customers that they do not need to take any mitigation steps, including changing their passwords. This is good news, since that would be a bit of a nightmare for users. This is one of the “cons” in using a password manager [view related post].
Password manager platforms are ripe for attack and are obvious targets of cyber-attackers. LastPass has had its share of incidents and will no doubt continue to be a target due to the large number of customer accounts and administrative Master Passwords, which, if compromised, would be a treasure trove for criminals.
LastPass is being praised for its timely response and announcement of the issue. It will continue to update users as its investigation continues. Food for thought: you might consider changing your master password anyway. It won’t hurt.