LastPass

As a business owner, you’re already juggling multiple responsibilities, but remembering passwords for each of your business accounts doesn’t have to be one of them! This is because password managers exist to safeguard your sensitive business information - all in one place.

LastPass is a password management tool that has attracted attention for its user friendly interface and numerous security management features. LastPass aims to maximize cybersecurity with its intuitive offerings while simplifying the login process across various platforms.

LastPass allows users to store their passwords and personal information in an encrypted digital vault. Among its notable features are password sharing, emergency access, dark web monitoring, username and password generators, offline access, an effective password management dashboard for businesses, and digital legacy (digital information that’s available about someone after their death) management. These features can enhance both security and convenience for SMB owners like yourself.

However, like any service, LastPass is not without its challenges. The platform faced significant security breaches in August and December 2022 which raised much concern about the platform’s vulnerability to cyberattacks. But despite these incidents, LastPass remains a popular choice for many businesses.

Here are a few of the use cases of LastPass for small businesses:

Customized Security Policies

As an administrator, you can manage users and security policies from a unified dashboard that allows you to customize over 100 access and authentication policies. You can also use your admin rights to instantly add or remove team members and react to data breaches in real time.

Secure Password Sharing with Users

After its latest security breach, LastPass employs robust AES-256 encryption to protect user data. LastPass also provides multi-factor authentication (MFA), in which biometrics and authenticator app codes act as secondary authentication factors. This makes it easier for you to share passwords when necessary with your team members, vendors, and freelancers without worrying about data leakage.

Employee Usage Tracking

LastPass has an intuitive dashboard that you can use to get insights into user activity, password policy adherence, and password security scores. LastPass has the most comprehensive real-time reports of employee interaction, as compared to other password management tools on the market. Dashlane is the only other tool that comes close to LastPass, and it still doesn’t hold the same wealth of information about employees’ usage habits as LastPass.

Country Restrictions for Data Security

LastPass includes country restriction functionality, which allows users to select the countries from which they'd like to access their login information. This can be helpful, especially when you have employees working remotely or traveling. However, these restrictions can be bypassed by someone using a VPN.

Password Generation

LastPass helps you and your team members generate strong passwords, and automatically fills in these passwords when you visit sites for which you have saved passwords. LastPass also provides single sign-on (SSO), enabling authorized employees to access applications with just one set of login credentials.

With the purchase of a Business account, your employees can each benefit from a free Families account, to promote good password practices at home while ensuring that personal and business data remain separate.

There are certain areas in which LastPass is not as strong as competitors, which may lead you to consider a different password management tool for your business:

Security Concerns

Password management tools are often the targets of cyber attacks, especially when banking information is involved. So if you’re looking for enterprise-grade security, LastPass may not be for you. This is especially pertinent given the platform’s history of security breaches in the past (2015, 2021, 2022) where the private data of 25 million users was put at risk. So if you’re not willing to put your trust in LastPass, even though they’ve beefed up their security protocols following the attacks, you could go for 1Password or Dashlane, both of which have never experienced a serious security breach.

Limited Free Version

The free version of LastPass may be too limited for many business users. Free subscribers miss out on important features such as password sharing, dedicated customer support, and emergency access. However, you can try one of the business plans with a 14-day free trial before committing to one that suits your needs.

Additionally, syncing passwords in the freemium version is restricted to one device type - either mobile or desktop - which would hinder usability for you and your team. To avoid this, try Bitwarden as it allows vault access on an unlimited number of devices.

Certain User Experience Issues

Importing passwords into LastPass can be more complex compared to other password manager, which typically offer smoother, one-click options - such as Dashlane. Additionally, users cannot access the password generator when creating or editing passwords within the vault, and some users have also reported issues with editing saved items and the autofill feature on the desktop app.

LastPass offers two plans for small teams and businesses with a free 14-day trial for each one.

Once you’ve decided to use LastPlan for your SMB, here’s what you can do to get started:

• Go to LastPass or download the application onto your device.
• Click on the Buy Teams or Buy Business option, depending on which plan you want to go with.
• Create an account for your company and make the payment.
• Integrate your existing directory.
• Set the password policies you want users to follow.
• Configure multi-factor authentication.
• Add/integrate apps.
• Invite users.

It’s important to note that many users have reported difficulties canceling their subscriptions and even being charged after canceling. So it’s important to thoroughly read all reviews and understand the cancellation policies before committing and entering your credit card information.

When migrating from another password management tool to LastPass, you will need a step-by-step on how to securely migrate and import all your data and passwords. The resource center has a list of guides that will help you migrate your data without any hiccups.

However, here’s a quick version:

• Go to the left-side menu.
• Click on Advanced Options.
• Select Import from under the Manager Vault.
• Choose the web browser, password manager, or other tool you want to import data from.
• Follow the steps listed to import your data.

Browsers

LastPass is compatible with all major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge, and it provides seamless autofill and auto-login options for each one. All features are easily accessible in the web version and the software is reliable across all websites. LastPass also offers browser extensions for more convenient use. And if you have passwords saved on your browser already, you can easily import them to LastPass.

Desktop

The desktop app is easy to set up and the interface is the same as that of the web version. It also has a Quick Search option that allows you to find and copy credentials without opening the app.

Mobile

The mobile app offers intuitive features such as biometric login and autofill options. The mobile interface also closely matches that of the web version, making the experience consistent across all devices. Items are clearly labeled and well-organized, and users have minimal complaints about using the mobile app.

Operating Systems

LastPass can be used seamlessly across Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Identity Providers

LastPass is also compatible with most other identity providers, including Microsoft Active Directory, Azure Active Directory, Google Workspace, Okta, PingOne, PingFederate and OneLogin.

Microsoft announced that it will no longer support or update the Internet Explorer 11 browser, meaning that it will not get the necessary security updates needed to provide a safe experience for users. As such, LastPass announced that it will no longer support the extension for this browser and recommends that users transition to a supported browser as soon as possible. This is to provide a secure experience for all LastPass users.

In addition, LastPass also announced that it does not support FIDO2 authenticator apps as a standalone login method and that a LastPass authenticator must be used to register a FIDO2 authenticator.