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UK privacy regulators have fined password manager provider LastPass £1.2 million after a 2022 data breach exposed the personal information of around 1.6 million users. The Information Commissioner’s Office issued the penalty in December 2025, closing a lengthy investigation that identified serious failures in the company’s security practices.
Regulators found that the breach began when an attacker compromised an employee’s corporate laptop and stole internal credentials and source code. The intrusion later escalated after the attacker accessed a senior engineer’s personal device, which provided entry to cloud storage backups containing customer data. As a result, attackers exposed user information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, and website URLs linked to accounts.
Although LastPass operates a zero knowledge encryption model that prevents access to users’ master passwords, the regulator said other data elements lacked adequate protection. Authorities emphasized that while there is no evidence attackers decrypted password vaults, the exposure of metadata and account details significantly increased the risk of phishing, credential stuffing, and targeted cyberattacks.
UK’s Information Commissioner said LastPass failed to implement sufficiently strong technical and organizational safeguards, particularly given the sensitive nature of its service. Regulators stressed that password managers hold some of users’ most critical digital credentials and must meet exceptionally high standards for infrastructure security, access controls, and employee device management.
The breach has produced consequences beyond the financial penalty. Security researchers later linked stolen LastPass data to real world losses, including cryptocurrency thefts reported in subsequent years. These incidents reinforced concerns that even when encryption remains intact, weaknesses elsewhere in a system can still cause serious harm.
LastPass said it cooperated fully with the investigation and has since strengthened security controls, improved monitoring, and tightened access policies. The company said it remains committed to protecting users and improving its security posture.
To those unfamiliar, LastPass is a popular password manager that securely stores your login credentials, credit card info, and notes in an encrypted vault, letting you access them with just one master password, and automatically fills them into websites and apps across all your devices, simplifying online security.
