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Which one is safer - Google Password Manager vs LastPass?

Asked by Anisha Dalal Apr 22, 2021 1.2K views 1 answer
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Justin Schuh defended Google's reasoning in the wake of this post detailing the "discovery" (sic) that passwords saved in the Chrome password manager can be viewed in simple plain text. Let me just directly quote him:

“I'm the Chrome browser security tech lead, so it might help if I explain our reasoning here. The only strong permission boundary for your password storage is the OS user account. So, Chrome uses whatever encrypted storage the system provides to keep your passwords safe for a locked account. Beyond that, however, we've found that boundaries within the OS user account just aren't reliable, and are mostly just theater.


Consider the case of someone malicious getting access to your account. Said bad guy can dump all your session cookies, grab your history, install malicious extension to intercept all your browsing activity, or install OS user account level monitoring software. My point is that once the bad guy got access to your account the game was lost, because there are just too many vectors for him to get what he wants.

We've also been repeatedly asked why we don't just support a master password or something similar, even if we don't believe it works. We've debated it over and over again, but the conclusion we always come to is that we don't want to provide users with a false sense of security, and encourage risky behavior. We want to be very clear that when you grant someone access to your OS user account, that they can get at everything. Because in effect, that's really what they get.”


I've been using LastPass under the with a thought that it is better and safer than using Chrome's built-in password manager. There are two additional facts that are relevant here: LastPass has an option to stay signed in on a trusted computer. Let's assume I use it. Chrome lets you create a separate password for Google's synced data (read: stored passwords). Let's assume I do this as well.


With those givens, all other things being equal, is which is saher - google password manager vs LastPass ? It seems like once a malicious software gets on my system, or a bad guy has access, regardless of the theoretical perspective, my security is definitely compromised. Is that true?


Also, from a practical perspective, among Google password manager vs LastPass  is one or the other more likely to be hacked in real life? Are there certain attack vectors which are more common or more successful that would work one one of these or not the other?


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