LastPass

Sign in to all your Web sites easily with LastPass for Safari for Mac

With awareness of Internet security at an all-time high, keeping track of the unique passwords needed for logins can be difficult. LastPass for Safari for Mac allows a user to sign in with one password and save those multiple logins for use when needed.

Available as a free plugin for Safari, the program's basic features do not require any payment to use. The program installs quickly into Safari without any user interaction needed. The only indication that the plugin is running is a small icon next to the URL bar in the Web browser. Users can access its settings … Read more

LastPass now manages Wi-Fi passwords--but it's a pain

An update to the password managing utility LastPass (download for Windows and Mac) at the end of last week added a useful new feature, and tightened security protocols just a bit more than before.

The new feature lets you manage your Wi-Fi passwords from within LastPass. Unfortunately for existing users, you're going to have to re-install the LastPass dekstop client to get it to work. LastPass explained that this is because the new feature required a new utility with administrative rights before it could access the Wi-Fi password list. It also requires running the binary version of the LastPass … Read more

LastPass Portable for Chrome manages passwords, fills forms, and more

LastPass is a free password manager and automated form filler in the guise of a browser add-on. It lets you create one strong (and memorable) master password that you use to securely store and access passwords and log-on data for other sites and services such as Facebook or Google accounts. It's been around a while in several forms, including freeware and premium versions, some of which we've reviewed previously. We recently tried LastPass Portable for Chrome. It's an add-on optimized for the portable version of Google Chrome, though it works just as well in the browser's … Read more

What LastPass security issue means for RoboForm (Q&A)

After LastPass reported a possible security breach and potential theft of some of its users' master passwords last week, we wondered what it meant for other password managers, such as RoboForm.

Both LastPass and RoboForm help you create and manage strong passwords to log into the increasing array of secure Web sites that we all juggle these days. But is there an inherent vulnerability in relying on a single service to keep track of all your passwords? Should RoboForm users be concerned about the possibility of a similar "anomaly" exposing any of their data?

To answer those questions and learn how RoboForm strives to keep its own customers' data secure, CNET recently spoke with Bill Carey, RoboForm's vice president of marketing.

Q: Bill, from what you may know of what happened at LastPass, what was your take on it? Carey: That's a good question. I don't think anybody really knows what happened yet. I'm not even sure LastPass really knows what happened yet. I've read some of the articles and I read their blog, and they said there was an anomaly. It appears someone had access to their servers for a certain amount of time and that there could've been a transfer of data. But I don't think it would be fair for me to comment on it because I'm not really sure what happened yet. But I appreciate that you're writing it from our standpoint because no one's really thinking about "well, who else is out there and what are they doing and how are they protecting [their data]."… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1464: PSN Hackers don't quit (Podcast)

Wilson Tang from the 404 joins us in studio to hack away at all the tech news along with host of the week Mr. Brian Tong. Hackers are threatening a third attack on Sony which may cause consumers to think twice about adding their credit card information onto any site in the future despite the 1 million dollar insurance policy that Sony will take out for every user. The LastPass CEO explains how their system was hacked in detail while video game developer David Braben creates a USB stick sized PC for $25 which we all want. And we find out if the Chrome OS notebook will blend. Will it blend?

LastPass CEO reveals details on security breach

Following yesterday's revelation of a likely security breach at password management company LastPass, the company's CEO is revealing more details about the incident and trying to offer some comfort and advice to his users.

Speaking yesterday with PC World, LastPass CEO Joe Siegrist admits he may have been too "alarmist" in sounding the alarm bell over the potential security breach. But the anomalies the company found when looking over its logs raised too much of a red flag.

Siegrist explained that he doesn't think a lot of data would've been hacked, but just enough … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1463: Imagine the Earth wrapped in Honey (Podcast)

NASA proves Einstein is still a genius, just in case you forgot. Anonymous officially denies being involved in hacking the Playstation Network, Facebook and Google want Skype, and we're getting even closer to a world of digital distribution. Apple and EA are going to make sure of it.

LastPass forcing members to change passwords

Users who manage and store their passwords through password management service LastPass are being forced to change their master passwords after the site noticed an issue this week that raised the spectre of a possible security breach.

As described in a blog yesterday, LastPass (download) recently followed a string of breadcrumbs that pointed to an anomaly in its network traffic on Tuesday. Though such anomalies aren't unusual, LastPass found a matching anomaly in one of its databases. Unable to identify a root cause for either anomaly, the company made the decision to assume the worst--that some of its data … Read more

The 404 729: Where Stupid Andy is The 404's Nerd of the Year (podcast)

Kenley is back on The 404 today to announce the winner of our Nerd of the Year contest, and Stupid Andy is the victor!

Stupid Andy is a closet geek, so even though you might mistake him for a regular guy, he's well versed in audio/visual languages which I think puts him in the category of nerd, according to this article comparing the two.

Time has announced its Person of the Year for 2010, and although Justin Bieber, the Chilean miners, and the Tea Party all came close, Mark Zuckerberg clinched the title of the person who Time describes as "for better or for worse...has done the most to influence the events of the year."

With Zuckerberg in the cockpit, Facebook has changed the way we communicate and consume news, but we have to question whether the release of "The Social Network" had anything to do with the nomination.

Plenty of Gawker accounts were compromised as a result of last weekend's Gnosis breach, and we learn on today's show that even some of our fellow CNET colleagues were affected by the hack!

We also take a look at a graph of the top 50 Gawker Media passwords that are now posted online for public consumption. Clearly people just don't care about their commenting passwords on the site, because the first 10 are all lazy keyboard strokes like "123456," "abc123," and "qwerty." On the stranger side, "monkey," "consumer," "superman," and just the number "0" were all identified as popular passwords.

In the face of disaster, the smart thing to do is adapt and move on, so check out this Lifehacker guide to reassessing your online security measures. The page suggests using a free password manager called LastPass that generates complex passwords for you, stores them on a network, and even audits them to make sure they're not easy to guess.

Narcs around the world have been waiting for a Big Brother app for the iPhone, and now it's here. It's called the PatriotApp, and it deputizes any iPhone user (pending a 99-cent fee) with the ability to report a number of crimes directly to the appropriate governmental agency. It links your iPhone to organizations like the FBI, the EPA, and the CDC so you can report things like government waste, environmental crimes, white-collar crimes, and public health concerns on the fly, but it just seems like a professional tool to snitch on your neighbor. Finally, you can also use the app to post your claims to Twitter and Facebook, so all your friends can be aware of your citizen's arrests.

Remember Daniel, our friend who visited The 404 studio last March? He left us this video voice mail telling us about the current fashion trends blanketing his middle school. Congratulations on your graduation, buddy--be sure to tell all your new high school friends about The 404!

Episode 729 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

LastPass acquires Xmarks, premium service announced

In late September, Xmarks, the popular browser add-on that syncs bookmarks, saved passwords, open tabs, and so on, took its some 4.5 million fans on a roller-coaster ride.

It announced the imminent shutdown of the service because of lack of funding just to retract that a few days later when CEO James Joaquin hinted that a knight-in-shining-armor rescue was likely.

Now that rescue has been confirmed. In a blog posted today, Xmarks announced that it has been acquired by LastPass, a cross-platform password management service. This also means that Xmarks is now in transition from a "free" to a "freemium" business model.

The new model, which is similar to that of LastPass, allows people to utilize most of Xmarks' existing functions for free. More-savvy users, however, can also opt for Xmarks Premium, which costs $12 per year and includes new enhanced features such as support for iPhone iOS and Android, priority support, and more.… Read more