If you are not using lastpass to manage your passwords, you should. I had written some blog articles on lastpass. Now lastpass has added support for using Google Authenticator as the second factor in multi-factor authentication. The first factor in the 2-factor authentication is "what you know" which is a password — the master password in the case of lastpass. The second factor is "what you have" which in the case of google-authenticator is a smartphone — Android phone, iphone, ipod touch, blackberry. [^1]
You need to follow the instructions in the link above to
- install the Google Authenticator on your smartphone
- run it on your smartphone and associate it with your lastpass account and
- enable "Google Authenticator authentication" in lastpass in the Settings menu.
Step 2 can be done by scanning a QR code. On blackberry or on devices without a camera you need to the enter a password provided by lastpass.
When you run Google Authenticator on your smartphone it will show a verification code. This code will change at frequent intervals. Note that neither internet nor GPRS/3G/4G is used to provide the verification code. The time setting on your smartphone must be correct.
When you log off and log in to lastpass, it will ask for the verification code. Just enter the current verification code displayed by Google Authenticator running on the smartphone. You can also choose the option that says that you trust the computer. If so, lastpass won’t ask for verification code on that computer in future.
Now you have one more level of protection. If someone somehow logs into your lastpass account from an untrusted computer (that is, the first factor ‘password’ is breached), they still need to enter the verification code to gain access.
[^1]: Support for windows mobile and symbian are available but not from Google.