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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">In light of all this discussion, I think I see where the Lastpass breach(-es) happened. It's not front-end account cracking or browser hacking. It's back-end data theft from servers owned by a Cloud Service. These servers either have outside vendors who have way too much privileged access, or else they have really wicked-bad security to begin with. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">If this is the case, I would recommend NEVER using cloud-based password managers. DO NOT allow anyone to keep your database on THEIR servers. This is where local database creation where YOU control where and how the database is stored (local-only, or on someplace like Google Drive, knowing it is likely eventually to be stolen) looks to me like the best solution. Keepass and the cross-platform KeepassX (no connection between these two products, BTW) are examples of this sort of password manager. Your database is YOUR property, not the property of some vendor. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Where you store your vault is up to you. But YOU need to be in control of this choice, NOT your password manager's vendor.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">And don't keep unprotected password information anywhere where someone can find it. But then again, your heirs and sometimes others will need to be able to get at your passwords to access your accounts if need be. </div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">In the near future, here's hoping passwords will be sunsetted in favor of more secure login methods. Microsoft and several other vendors are working on finalizing the protocols for paskeys:</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><a href="https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://fidoalliance.org/passkeys/</a><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">This is where we are headed, and this latest LastPass breach only highlights the urgency of converting sooner than later.</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">-- Bob Primak</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div>
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On Thursday, December 29, 2022 at 04:14:51 PM EST, Alan Millner <armillner48@gmail.com> wrote:
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<div><div id="yiv9982887180"><div>I put my passwords on my paper rolodex.<div>It has never been hacked.</div><div><br clear="none"><div>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);word-wrap:break-word;"><div style="word-wrap:break-word;"><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none;">Alan Millner</div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none;">amillner@alum.mit.edu</div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none;">781-862-7893</div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none;">48 North St., Lexington MA 02420</div></div></div><br clear="none"><br clear="none" class="yiv9982887180Apple-interchange-newline">
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<div id="yiv9982887180yqt45327" class="yiv9982887180yqt2316743458"><div><br clear="none"><div>On Dec 29, 2022, at 3:55 PM, Jon Dreyer <jon@jondreyer.org> wrote:</div><br clear="none" class="yiv9982887180Apple-interchange-newline"><div>
</div></div></div></div></div><div id="yiv9982887180yqt16151" class="yiv9982887180yqt2316743458"><div><div><p>My approach is a bit more work, but it makes me feel safe despite
how theoretically easy it would be to break it.</p><p>I have a text file in an unlinked, and trivially password
protected, Web page. That file looks like a list of my passwords,
but it isn't quite. Each password in the file is a randomly
generated string, but what the attacker (except for you all)
doesn't know is that the actual passwords are those random strings
but with my own personal tweak. When I log in to, say, my bank
account, I copy/paste the string from the file into the password
field and then tweak it.<br clear="none">
</p><p>So the only way I'm screwed is if they find this file and figure
out my ttweak (and there's no clue that one is needed except that
the passwords don't work). Cryptographically unsafe, but it feels
pragmatically pretty safe to me, since you can break into millions
of accounts if you hack lastpass, but you can only get my accounts
if you hack this.<br clear="none">
</p><p>Somebody who doesn't have their own Web site could do this with
something like a google doc or google sheet.<br clear="none">
</p><p>And I also use 2FA for important sites as well.<br clear="none">
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<div class="yiv9982887180moz-signature">-- <br clear="none"><p style="font-family:Times, serif;">
Jon "I Don't Have To Outrun The Bear; I Just Have To Outrun You"
Dreyer<br clear="none">
<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://www.passionatelycurious.com/">Math Tutor/Computer
Science Tutor</a><br clear="none">
<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="http://music.jondreyer.com/">Jon Dreyer Music</a>
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