We have maintained since long time that LastPass is the best password management tool available for free. Honestly I couldn’t find even a paid password management tool which comes close to Lastpass in terms of features and simplicity. Today, we got one more great reason to use LastPass. LastPass today has added one more authentication for your accounts making them much more secure. LastPass now supports Google Authenticator, the same tool which is developed and used by Google for its 2 step authenication of Gmail or Google Accounts.

In simple terms, this means that you can secure your last pass account with a added layer of security. After enabling this additional feature, you will need to provide a secure key along with your LastPass account every time you want to login into to start using all your passwords associated with LastPass.

Honestly, when I read about this on their Blog announcement post, I assumed that this feature will be available only for premium accounts. But LastPass proved me wrong. This additional 2 step Authentication using Google Authenticator is being made available to all LastPass account whether its a free account or premium one. Thank you LastPass for doing that.

How to enable LastPass multi-factor authentication

If you have used the Gmail two step authentication system, then you must be familiar with this system. Firstly you need to have a supported mobile device with you. Currently only the following mobile devices are supported.

  • Android devices
  • iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad
  • BlackBerry devices

You can find the detailed instructions by Google on how to install Google Authenticator for your device here.

Apart from these devices, some other devices too are supported.

  • Windows Phone -  Authenticator developed by Slugonamission.
  • WebOS device – GAuth.developed by Greg Stoll.
  • Symbian device, or any device that supports Java ME -  gauthj2me developed by Obruj0.

If you own any of the the devices above then you can proceed further. You need to install Google Authenticator App on your mobile device. After you are done with the installation of Google Authenticator, go to https://lastpass.com/?ac=1&opengoogleauth=1. You need to scan a QR code or Bar code for your Google Authenticator App on your Phone. You can scan it easily using any of the free Bar Code scanning app (Androids,  iPhones and supported devices with cameras). Or you can manually enter the Google Authentication Key found on that setup page.

Just update these settings by clicking Enabled in “Google Authenticator Authentication” option and you are done. Now if you login to your lastPass account on a new device, you will need to provide the Authentication code along with your Master password to login to Lastpass.

Just put the code generated by your mobile device to get access to your account.

I highly recommend every user to use this feature as Lastpass stores all your username and password details. Hence you should make it as secure as you can. I already enabled it for my account. What about you?

Thanks @Samuel for the tip.