Fell for that $80 password manager 'lifetime' deal that was anything but

Bought into a flash sale for a password manager called SecureVault Pro back in 2021, paid $80 for 'lifetime' access. Two months later the company folded and I couldn't even export my vault, had to manually reset every login for like 30 accounts. Anyone else get burned by a small cybersecurity startup that talked a big game?

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wren2172mo ago

My buddy Dave bought the same deal actually. Told everyone at work how smart he was for grabbing it. Two weeks after the company vanished he was at my place with a laptop and a six pack asking if I knew how to crack encrypted files. I did not. He spent an entire weekend resetting passwords and swore off every startup that offers a "lifetime" anything after that. Last I heard he just writes his passwords on a sticky note under his keyboard like its 2005.

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rowanc292mo ago

Yeah, "two weeks later the company vanished" is pretty much how these lifetime deals always play out. If you ever get stuck in a similar spot, what usually works is checking if the service used a standard encryption like AES-256. Sometimes the key is just sitting in your account dashboard or in the old welcome email. Otherwise, try searching your computer for any leftover cache files or database dumps the app might've left behind before it went dark. Dave's sticky note system is honestly more reliable than most cloud stuff these days.

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