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GitHub to require 2FA


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Matthew Exon
Thanks, I'll try it out! I actually pay for LastPass, but apparently not enough to enable their TOTP functionality, which is corporate-only 😭

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Bitwarden
Thanks for sharing the link! Bitwarden’s core password management features are #, but as the article mentions, interested users can upgrade to premium for $10 a year (less than $1/month) for additional features like TOTP code generation.

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in reply to Bitwarden

I see. I was hoping that there would be a free as in beer TOTP solution out there. At least your consumer subscription plan includes TOTP, whereas the Lastpass version I'm using only has TOTP in the corporate plan. So I will consider this, but it's not a slam-dunk. And it is irritating to have to pay a fee just for the privilege of giving away code for free.

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in reply to Bitwarden

I've always found the idea of TOTP code generation in the same app as your password manager to be a little questionable - the idea is to keep them separate right? So one being hacked wouldn't mean you're totally compromised

I'm happy to listen to arguments on the contrary, but for me right now that option isn't a good idea.

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in reply to Paul Wilde :blobcatnim_new: :dontpanic_nobg:

LOTs of conversation around this, with one use case being when team members need to use 2FA for a shared account, the balance between security and convenience of trying to coordinate securely sending the 2FA response to employees that need it.

In this case, anyone in a Bitwarden organization with access to the shared collection/item can just hit the paste shortcut after auto-filling as the code gets copied to the clipboard (unless disabled in settings).
in reply to Matthew Exon

Thanks for the honest feedback Matthew, the Bitwarden team is always listening and learning.

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in reply to Bitwarden

Sure, I get it, but I’m of the mind that security shouldn’t be convenient. I understand the irony there, a password manager is convenient and I use one, but when it comes to 2FA I feel more secure with the inconvenience

Having TOTP in your password manager removes the idea of “2FA”, ultimately in my opinion, making it 1FA

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in reply to Paul Wilde :blobcatnim_new: :dontpanic_nobg:

Thanks for the feedback! The other feature available is Master Password Re-prompt, which, in a future release, will obscure all of a vault item’s information unless master password is input again (currently the re-prompt only protects the password field) https://bitwarden.com/help/managing-items/#protect-individual-items

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in reply to Latte macchiato :blobcoffee: :ablobcat_longlong:

yep, hardware security keys solve it nicely.... But for entry level users who, let's face it, don't really understand the process of keeping their information secure, they'd be go for the convenience over the security where as security conscious people/businesses we need to walk them through the process.

Maybe separate master passwords and TOTP passwords are the answer here? So at least both are protected independently, but even then I don't like it.

Besides, bitwarden should be secured itself via 2FA anyway, and it would be pretty silly to store that TOTP code in bitwarden so a user would need another app anyway 😁

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in reply to Latte macchiato :blobcoffee: :ablobcat_longlong:

The idea of a factor is to limit the pool of potential attackers. "Something you know" can be extracted by hackers, normally a large sophisticated team based in another country extracting credentials wholesale. "Something you have" can be extracted by your neighbourhood pickpocket. The power of 2FA is that the intersection of those two sets is extremely small. Having credentials on a phone, especially if that phone is backed up to the cloud, obliterates this idea. If a thief who can steal one factor can steal the other factor the same way, it's not two factors.

In this case I just want to log into a github account so I can give away code for free. What am I defending here? What I want is 1FA and all of this bullshit to just go away. Microsoft now says that's not good enough, I need to jump through their 2FA hoop. I'm looking for a way to cut the bottom off that hoop.
in reply to Paul Wilde :blobcatnim_new: :dontpanic_nobg:

Always important not to forget that the average user can just about use a browser. :P
If it gets people to finally use MFA at all, I'm happy.
My vault is locked behind Yubikey-only authentication, so I see no issue with storing TOTP for sites that don't support hardware keys in the Vault. 'course there's the factor of potential malware though, so a seperate TOTP password would be a neat feature.
in reply to Matthew Exon

The issue is the UX of most MFA being awful, I agree with that completely.

You really should look into the Yubikeys you can plug into an USB port and just keep in there. Enter your password, gently touch the key and you're in. It's the logical evolution of MFA.

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in reply to Latte macchiato :blobcoffee: :ablobcat_longlong:

That's the way the Bitwarden uses their hardware keys wherever possible and definitely the most seamless. Outside of Master Password Re-prompt, having a secondary password/pin is a great suggestion 👍
in reply to Latte macchiato :blobcoffee: :ablobcat_longlong:

Came close to ordering a Yubikey on multiple occasions. My last note on the subject is from August last year, prompted by this comment. No. If replacing a lost/broken key is going to be hard, then no. Perhaps as a 2FA lock on my password manager, but I can't see the need. I do not, in fact, backup my password manager in the cloud, and I do have an emergency backup at home. Fingerprint protection is good enough. If Yubikey can sort out the migration process so that I can do without the password manager, then maybe we're talking.
in reply to Bitwarden

Ah great, I'm glad that idea sounded good, it was only half thought about 😄
At least then we've done everything we can do to separate out the security. If a user decides to use the same password on both then that's not our problem anymore
in reply to Matthew Exon

The Bitwarden team hasn't had any issues with broken keys, but best practice is to have a least 2.
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Matthew Exon
It exists. Step 1 "enter your phone number". That's a red flag. Phone numbers are a) not pseudonymous, b) not under my control, and c) do not work when I'm overseas, which is where I need these things the most. I will consider this, and still might use it just so I can use github. So thanks for that suggestion too!
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Bitwarden
There are definitely options out there for everyone no matter what solution you go with. Along with Authy, FreeOTP by Red Hat is commonly used.

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in reply to Bitwarden

Boom, FreeOTP is the answer. Works, and does nothing else, exactly what I wanted. Thanks so much for the recommendation! And particular props for recommending a competitor 😉

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in reply to Matthew Exon

I use Bitwarden for this myself, purely because it is so convenient and easy, and still pretty secure.

If you are looking for a simple, open-source TOTP app, there is always FreeOTP: https://freeotp.github.io/
It has iOS and Android versions.

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