Last Straw for LastPass

Ep210. I’ve recommended LastPass for years – since I wrote my book and every day since. Until now. There are several good (secure and private) password managers out there. But LastPass was the full package: a free tier that had all the functionality most people need and for-pay tiers that had very useful extras. But now they’re hobbling the free version by only allowing you to use it on one type of device: either a mobile device or a computer, but not both. To me, that makes the free tier useless. LastPass’s Android app was also found to contain seven different trackers. That was the last straw for me. In today’s episode, I’ll tell you my new recommendations and give you an important tip on making the switch. In other news: a new law in Australia aims to force Google and Facebook to pay for news links; SolarWinds is blaming an intern for using a horrible password; SMS tax scams are picking up; Alexa Skills have serious privacy and security issues; adtech companies are scrambling to avoid telling you that you’re being tracked on iOS; cops use copyright filters to prevent being recorded; a new company is creating a nationwide surveillance system; pharmacies are capitalizing on the COVID vaccine to get your data for marketing; Firefox 86 has a killer new system to prevent third party cookie tracking; however, adtech is exploiting a loophole in DNS to turn third party cookies into first party cookies. Further Info: Switching to Bitwarden: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/?p=2447 Chat with me on Discord and get exclusive content! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons SMS tax scam unmasked: Bogus but believable – don’t fall for it! https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2021/02/12/sms-tax-scam-unmasked-bogus-but-believable-dont-fall-for-it/ Alexa Skills: Security gaps and data protection problems https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/03/02/alexa-skills-security/ Ongoing & enormous Microsoft Exchange server hack hits 30,000 US groups https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/03/06/microsoft-exchange-server-hack-affects-over-30000-us-organizations Post-IDFA Alliance will address concerns of mobile app and game marketers https://venturebeat.com/2021/02/17/post-idfa-alliance-will-address-concerns-of-mobile-app-and-game-marketers/ Judge approves $650m settlement of privacy lawsuit against Facebook https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/27/facebook-illinois-privacy-lawsuit-settlement Cops Using Music to Try to Stop Being Filmed Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/02/cops-using-music-try-stop-being-filmed-just-tip-iceberg Inside ‘TALON,’ the Nationwide Network of AI-Enabled Surveillance Cameras https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvx4bq/talon-flock-safety-cameras-police-license-plate-reader You got a vaccine. Walgreens got your data. (Recode) https://www.vox.com/recode/22310281/covid-vaccine-walgreens-cvs-rite-aid-walmart-data Firefox’s Total Cookie Protection aims to stop tracking between multiple sites https://www.engadget.com/firefox-total-cookie-protection-stop-tracking-websites-140044979.html Online Trackers Increasingly Switching to Invasive CNAME Cloaking Technique https://thehackernews.com/2021/02/online-trackers-increasingly-switching.html Changes to LastPass Free https://blog.lastpass.com/2021/02/changes-to-lastpass-free/ Security researcher raises questions about trackers in LastPass Android app https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/02/26/security-raises-questions-about-trackers-in-lastpass-android-app