Bitwarden is a digital password manager. Such systems allow you to set up secure vaults to store long, unique passwords for all your accounts without needing to remember them each individually. If properly secured and used, this allows individuals and organizations to enhance their account security by using strong passwords overall. Bitwarden is an open-source tool that has a good free-tier, but also offers paid plans with additional features for experienced users and teams/organizations.
Bitwarden is a password manager designed to help people keep their passwords safe. One major cybersecurity risk organizations face is having an account hacked, either because they used an easy to guess password, or because they stored their password insecurely. Bitwarden is an easy way to store complex passwords in a way that is secure while also easy to access. One of the main advantages of the tool is that it is relatively cheap and easy to use.
Bitwarden is useful for those who are looking to increase their cybersecurity practices while doing so in an affordable and easy to use way. The low price of Bitwarden makes it ideal for small civic organizations and groups who don’t have the resources to invest in an expensive enterprise password manager. Because it is open-source, it can also be used for free by anyone who is tech-savvy and interested in hosting their own version of the tool. Importantly, despite being an inexpensive and open-source tool, it has a fair deal of documentation and support, so that it can be used by those who are less comfortable with digital services.
Cost
For personal use, the tool has a free tier, as well as a $1 per month plan. For organizations looking to share passwords, the base plan is $3 per user per month.
Capacity Requirements
The tool can be used without any technical expertise needed. (The tool is open-source, meaning the option exists for more technical people to host the tool themselves for free, but this is not at all necessary because the company offers a hosted version.) The tool requires minimal effort to use, and organizations shouldn’t need to worry about budgeting time toward supporting its use.
Support
The Bitwarden site has a number of help pages as well as resources for using the tool in more complex situations.
Cybersecurity Considerations
Bitwarden is designed to provide cybersecurity protection. However users should be aware that password managers cannot provide complete protection. Users should make sure they are using secure passwords. They should also be aware that insecure websites, using public internet hotspots, and malware can all undermine the protection provided by a password manager.
Please contact us for use cases. You can read more about password management best practices and tips for implementation in the Cybersecurity Handbooks for Civil Society Organizations and Political Parties.