Recently started using Bitwarden and it works really well. You can even ditch authenticator because it has OTP built in too.
I selfhost it though because I trust nobody with this type of sensitive data, encrypted or not.
By storing your passwords and otp in the same place it becomes 1 factor authentification
Not really as you’re still protected from password breaches, which is most likely to happen anyways, especially if you self host.
If you’re actively being targeted for your bitwarden password, you likely have bigger problems
Technically yes if my vault gets compromised I would be fucked. I have it firewalled tho and only accessible from home (or VPN to home). So should be pretty secure. I used google authenticator but found it a major pita (can’t even search entries on Android, wtf?). If they make this more user friendly I’ll gladly switch back to a seperate OTP store.
I was thinking about self hosting but I was worried it would be less secure. I don’t really know a lot about setting that kind of thing up (I do have programming experience but don’t have a lot of server hosting experience outside of doing it for games like Minecraft) and I feel like I’d mess it up and it would be a lot easier to get into than a hardened server. Especially cause the odds I get a virus or something is probably higher then the odds someone breaks into bitwarden’s server. Idk if I’m wrong about this, would love to be corrected if I am, was just my initial thoughts when I switched over from a different password manager to bitwarden.
I think the bigger thing to worry about is, what would happen if your server fails or is destroyed? Would you have a backup of all your passwords? And if yes, are those backups updated regularly and stored in a safe place that also won’t get destroyed if the server gets destroyed (like, say, a house fire)?
Then, yes, you got the cybersecurity angle too
It’s a lot to think about for something as important and fundamental to everything you do on the internet as passwords (and accounts)
Yep, and Vaultwarden too!
Though the most secure practice is to store them separately.
The most secure practice for any high-value accounts (email etc) is to use WebAuthn with a hardware key like a Yubikey.
TOTP is still vulnerable to phishing (a fake login page can ask for both a password and a TOTP code) so business/corporate environments are moving away from them.
The paid features aren’t free if you self-host either. You still need a premium account to use premium features with a self-hosted Bitwarden, unless you modify the code and remove the licensing checks. Licenses are pretty cheap though.
The major features are free if you use Vaultwarden, which is an alternative server implementation.
Yep, for only $10 per year. But just make sure to keep backups of your vault and/or make an emergency kit.
