Previously:
LastPass 2.0: An Updated Version Of An Essential Program

The upgrade to LastPass 2.0 includes a meaningful improvement in “Secure Notes” to help you use LastPass to store all of your private information, not just Internet passwords.

Secure Notes allow you to store any kind of information securely – a digital encrypted notepad. You can save bank account numbers, credit card information, Social Security numbers, locker combinations, and anything else you need to remember.

The information is stored in your LastPass Vault in a folder named Secure Notes. You can create subfolders to keep the notes organized. A Secure Note can be created from the LastPass toolbar or from the LastPass Vault in your web browser. Secure Notes are encrypted in the same way as passwords, keeping them safe but making them available on any device connected to your LastPass account.

LastPass 2.0 has added templates to use for 12 different types of Secure Notes. Instead of a blank notepad, a note for a credit card has fields for the basic information – type of card, number, security code, expiration date, etc. Each template has a notes field for any additional information that doesn’t fit in the blanks.

Until now it has required a separate program to track information like this – Roboform and eWallet have been popular choices. LastPass Secure Notes are fairly basic in some ways compared to those programs, but the convenience of having a single program to track all of your private data is compelling. I’ve begun the process of moving all my confidential data out of eWallet and into LastPass.

It’s now possible to store documents, PDF files, and images as attachments to a Secure Note. You could, for example, scan your passport and save it in LastPass as an attachment to a Secure Note that has the passport information and number. LastPass gives 50 MB of storage space to each user (up to 1 GB for paid users). The stored files are encrypted along with everything else stored in LastPass.

There is a description of all of the features of Secure Notes here, and more information about the upgrade to Secure Notes and the other new features in version 2.0 here.

LASTPASS WALLET

iPhone and iPad users have an extra reason to use Secure Notes. LastPass Wallet is a separate app for iOS that displays the Secure Notes in your LastPass account in a visually rich way. Notes about credit cards look like credit cards and the icon for driver’s license info has a cute car on it.

You can easily add items or add attachments to existing items right from your iOS device. All the data is synced back to your LastPass account. There’s an article here about the details of using LastPass Wallet.

Admit it – the data about your identity is scattered around you on loose pieces of paper and Post-it notes and poorly organized file folders. If you’re a LastPass user, start to put information into Secure Notes. The more you put in, the more it will repay the effort. Make it a habit.

in the next article, I’ll tell you a little bit about what LastPass can do to help you fill forms, and why I send them money every year for the Premium version.