The company states that user data remains secure and it continues to investigate the incident. Credit: Hernan4429 / Getty Images LastPass, maker of a popular password management application, revealed Thursday that an unauthorized party gained access to its development environment through a compromised developer account and stole some source code and proprietary technical information. An initial probe of the incident has revealed no evidence that customer data or encrypted password vaults were accessed by the intruder, CEO Karim Toubba stated in a company blog post.Toubba explained that the master passwords of the company’s users are protected by a zero-knowledge architecture, which prevents LastPass from knowing or accessing those passwords.“Our products and services are operating normally,” adds LastPass spokesperson Nikolett Bacso Albaum. “In response [to the incident], we immediately initiated an investigation, deployed containment and mitigation measures, and engaged a leading cybersecurity and forensics firm.” “While our investigation is ongoing,” she continues, “we have achieved a state of containment, implemented additional enhanced security measures, and see no further evidence of unauthorized activity.” Password managers an attractive targetWhile the motive of the people responsible for this LastPass incident is unknown, password managers are a challenging but attractive target for threat actors, observes Melissa Bischoping, an endpoint security research specialist with Tanium, an endpoint management and security company. “They unlock—quite literally—a treasure trove of access to hundreds of thousands of accounts and sensitive customer data in an instant, if they are breached,” she says.Also unknown is how the developer account was compromised. Presumably, LastPass had proper authentication controls in place, but sometimes “even strong authentication solutions are not enough for various reasons,” says Rajiv Pimplaskar, CEO of Dispersive Holdings, a secure access service edge provider. LastPass able to contain the damageTaylor Ellis, customer threat analyst at Horizon3.ai, an automated penetration testing as a service company, praises LastPass for the way it has handled the incident. “Whenever a breach occurs, many organizations fail to isolate the incident quickly, or they struggle with how to guide a proper security investigation,” she explains. “As an experienced security company, LastPass at least had the home team advantage by following the correct procedures, isolating the issue on time, and preventing their customers from being severely impacted by the breach.” Related content opinion Employee discontent: Insider threat No. 1 CISOs who focus only on detection technology — and don’t engage with the human side of the security equation — are missing a key ingredient for insider risk management. By Christopher Burgess May 21, 2024 7 mins CSO and CISO Threat and Vulnerability Management Human Resources how-to Download the hybrid cloud data protection enterprise buyer’s guide From the editors of our sister publication Network World, this enterprise buyer’s guide helps network and security IT staff understand the issues their organizations face around protecting corporate data in a hybrid cloud environment and how to By Neal Weinberg May 20, 2024 1 min Cloud Security Data and Information Security Enterprise Buyer’s Guides news analysis Global stability issues alter cyber threat landscape, ESET reports With conflict on the rise, regional APT groups are increasing activity, altering focus, and putting specific industries in their crosshairs. Here’s what CISOs should know. By Evan Schuman May 20, 2024 4 mins Advanced Persistent Threats Cyberattacks Threat and Vulnerability Management feature The inside story of Cyber Command’s creation Cartoons, Starbucks cards, and Hollywood storyboards: The ‘Four Horsemen of Cyber’ — CISA’s Jen Easterly, Lt. Gen. S.L. Davis, retired US Navy Vice Admiral T.J. White, and former NSA chief Paul Nakasone — revealed at RSA By Cynthia Brumfield May 20, 2024 8 mins Aerospace and Defense Industry CSO and CISO Military PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe