Bitwarden VS KeePass2.x

For passwords and 2FA I use Bitwarden in combination with a self-hosted Vaultwarden service (for imcreased security and use of pro features for free).

First it's good to use a password manager, however it's not a good idea to use the one built into your browser. I would suggest switching to BitWarden or similar (not LastPass).

I just noticed today when relogging in on Bitwarden (I couldn't sync my vault) that it said "Logged in as [email] on __$2__" instead of "Logged in as [email] on bitwarden.com". I don't know why or how that happened, and I have no idea what it means. Did I screw up somehow? Just to be clear, I did login and just after I logged in my brain realized that it said "__$2__" instead of what it should say.

bitwarden:~$ sudo ./bitwarden.sh updateself _ _ _ _ | |__ (_) |___ ____ _ _ __ __| | ___ _ __ | '_ \| | __\ \ /\ / / _` | '__/ _` |/ _ \ '_ \ | |_) | | |_ \ V V / (_| | | | (_| | __/ | | | |_.__/|_|\__| \_/\_/ \__,_|_| \__,_|\___|_| |_| Open source password management solutions Copyright 2015-2023, 8bit Solutions LLC https://bitwarden.com, https://github.com/bitwarden =================================================== bitwarden.sh version 2023.10.3 Docker version 24.0.7, build afdd53b Docker Compose version v2.21.0 Updated self. bitwarden:~$ sudo ./bitwarden.sh update _ _ _ _ | |__ (_) |___ ____ _ _ __ __| | ___ _ __ | '_ \| | __\ \ /\ / / _` | '__/ _` |/ _ \ '_ \ | |_) | | |_ \ V V / (_| | | | (_| | __/ | | | |_.__/|_|\__| \_/\_/ \__,_|_| \__,_|\___|_| |_| Open source password management solutions Copyright 2015-2023, 8bit Solutions LLC https://bitwarden.com, https://github.com/bitwarden =================================================== bitwarden.sh version 2023.10.3 Docker version 24.0.7, build afdd53b Docker Compose version v2.21.0 Update not needed bitwarden:~$

Bitwarden (version 8588): A secure and free password manager for all of your devices.

I would also recommend the use of a password manager such as Proton Pass, BitWarden or 1Password if your looking for a more premium solution.

Use a password manager if you do not already and have it generate unique passwords for every website. Bitwarden is one of the best. You should NEVER reuse passwords and should always use unique passwords. It may be inconvenient at first but a password manager like Bitwarden really does make it a whole lot more convenient. Your e-mail especially should have its own unique password. You should also use two-factor authentication on any website that offers it. If you do not have a good AV on your computers, Bitdefender and Kaspersky both offer free options. The website https://haveibeenpwned.com/ is a good place to check if your credentials have been in a data breach.

And the best part is there are solutions already that do this: https://keepass.info/

Does it work on Android or iOS?

🔗 KeePass

When you're at a point where you're relying on a display name to make security-critical decisions, you've already lost.

Character substitutions like ķeepass or ƙeepass or keypass are at least possible to spot if you know the name of the product, but not the full URL.

But there are many ways to create lookalike domains that don't change the product name: https://keepass.org https://keepass.net https://keepass.info https://keepass.cx https://keepassxc.org https://keepass-info.net https://keepass-manager.com

Which of these is the correct one? (It's https://keepassxc.org of course, but just looking at the URL won't tell you that.)

The root cause is downloading software you see advertised on Google even though that does not in any way establish trustworthiness.

> People love to hate on passwords but the reality is that for many circumstances (threat models) they are the best compromise. You can make them more than strong enough (take 32+ bytes out of /dev/random and encode however you like, nobody will ever brute force that in this universe) and various passwords managers solve the problem of re-use (never reuse a password).

> And it comes with the benefit that you control how it is stored and can apply as much redundancy as you want to feel comfortable.

Honestly, I agree! I used KeePass back in the day (https://keepass.info/) but now use KeePassXC (https://keepassxc.org/) and it's really nice - I don't know any of my passwords because they're all randomly generated and are pretty secure. The only one I have to remember is my main password for decrypting the safe, which I also wrote down and entrusted to someone close to me due to its complexity.

It honestly works great, software to interact with the password safe is on every platform where I need it to be, in addition to it being super easy to reason about storage, because it's basically just a file - that I can then put on self-hosted Nextcloud, or another solution like that, or USB sticks or burn to CDs for all I care.

Maybe I should also migrate all of my TOTP stuff over to it and look into good Android apps at some point, then I wouldn't quite need Google Authenticator or FreeOTP anymore, either.

If you have used this combo at many sites (which is of course not recommended) then download one of the available free Password Managers like Keepass, Bitwarden, Lastpass or any others you can find with a Google Search

I also tried out KeePass for a little bit but prefer the BitWarden apps. The key thing here is don't store your passwords in the cloud as they are massive target for hackers.

There are various Keepass add-ons, but I prefer the standalone version.

Best KeePass Windows desktop client: KeePass

If though you can't stand the idea of your password vault on a 3rd party server then you can use an offline password manager like KeePass. Of course, you have to take responsibility for making and storing backups of your vault in case something happens to your device. Fortunately, Syncthing can make this pretty trivial.