Contents
How It Works
LastPass is a simple to use, yet advanced password manager that works across personal, family, and business platforms. It allows you to access passwords from all devices, securely share passwords, and save and fill passwords. Plus, a strong password generator, secure notes, and multi-factor authentication are included.
LastPass uses AES-256 bit encryption with PBKDF2 SHA-256 and salted hashes. Your password vault is encrypted at the device level and your encryption keys and Master Password are never sent to LastPass. LastPass never has access to your vault or Master Password.
You can enable multi-factor authentication to access your LastPass vault. This creates another layer of security in front of your Master Password.
LastPass is free to use with a personal email account.
Getting Started with LastPass
1. Get the LastPass browser extension or mobile app.
You can use LastPass as a browser extension or on your mobile device through the LastPass app.
2. Create a strong Master Password.
To access your Last Pass password vault, you need a long and complex Master Password. It's the only password you need to securely access all your passwords.
3. Build your password vault.
Once you have LastPass installed and you've created a unique account, you're ready to use your password vault.
Helpful Tips
- Creating a Master Password
What you should actually do:
A passphrase is a sequence of random words and characters strung together to create a password. The difference is that a passphrase is typically longer, with at least 20 to 30 characters. But by using a combination of words and/or characters that only make sense to you, it’s no trouble to remember it.
Creating a strong passphrase is easy. Check out these examples:
mydogfido’sbirthdayisnovember19
yellowcatbaseball…newyork
myvacation2paris-wasincredible
soexcitedtoStartCollege!thisfall
Notice how each of these is a fairly simple phrase. By stringing together a couple words we’ve created passwords that are pretty long, but also pretty random. Including a few symbols, numbers, or uppercase letters somewhere in the passphrase also increases its strength.
When you take into account the AES 256-bit encryption, a well-chosen phrase would take many, many lifetimes to crack.
NOTE: Mobile Recovery is the only way to recover a lost or forgotten Master Password. Consider storing your Master Password in a secure location like a safe deposit box or enable Mobile Recovery.
See How to Make a Strong Master Password.
- Import Previously Saved Passwords
If you have passwords saved in your browser or Mac OSX Keychain, allow LastPass to import your previously saved passwords.
Enable auto log out and idle settings. Be sure to set your LastPass account to automatically log out after browsers are closed or sessions are idle.
Download and install LastPass mobile app on your mobile devices to begin securing all your passwords across multiple devices.
Enable Mobile Recovery for your LastPass account so you can recover a lost, stolen, or forgotten Master Password using fingerprint or FaceID on iOS or Android devices.
- Take LastPass Security Challenge
Protect passwords from re-use or identify weak passwords. Once you have all your passwords safely stored in a LastPass vault, run the Security Challenge tool to evaluate passwords being shared amongst accounts, weak passwords, or abandoned accounts. Take steps to change duplicate or weak passwords first. New passwords should be random, unique, and have 12+ characters. You can use LastPass built-in password generator to take the guesswork out of the equation.
- Emergency Access and Family Sharing
LastPass Family offers Emergency Access and Family Sharing features. LastPass Family is $4 a month and provides up to 6 Premium licenses for family members to store passwords, share passwords, or access personal passwords for banking or medical emergencies. 1 GB of encrypted file storage and Dark Web Monitoring for email addresses or passwords found on the Dark Web included.
See LastPass Getting Started Guide for more information.