I don't suppose it being a non-obvious value makes it any more secure? Is an attacker brute forcing the thing likely to try obvious default values first and then give up if they don't work? Or will they simply +1 the iteration count until they hit paydirt?
No, the iteration count is no secret. It’s even exposed via a public API, anyone can query it if they know the email address.
Yes. The number of iterations is presumably stored in the same customers database that they stole. Even if not: the number of iterations can be queried via a public API, anyone can do it if they know the email address.
>GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card could test more than 88,000 guesses per second!
Guessing we're missing a zero there?
The writer of the article needs to retract.
https://support.lastpass.com/help/about-password-iterations-...
I’m not missing anything. It’s LastPass who finally need to retract this article. I proved back in 2018 that server-side iterations are misimplemented and have no security effect. That’s why they increased the client-side value in the first place. See https://palant.info/2018/07/09/is-your-lastpass-data-really-...