There’s no guarantee anything is “secure,” anymore. Even if you run a self-hosted password manager, it could still be compromised at the package-level or down the road through some exploit. I will say that since I started using Bitwarden as my main password manager, I have had to worry less about company data breaches and stolen passwords. I have no need to reuse passwords for any site or service. I can use the built-in 2FA with sites that require it and don’t have to have multiple apps. I can share passwords with my wife if she needs to access something under my name.
In addition to storing logins, I can store secure notes, even storing login-specific notes within the login details for things like one-time-use passwords, etc. I can store various credit/debit cards and recall them into payment systems whenever I want, without storing them in a browser. When using the phone, I can tie the biometrics to the unlocking of my vault so, with the vault locked, I can easily unlock it to find the login/info I need to submit to an app or website.
Obviously, all this comes with their own risks, but the level of risk of a password management is far lower than the risk of reused passwords and the mismanagement of security at the corporate-level. If you’re really hard-up to keep your stuff offline, other products exist that are locally stored, but you’ll likely miss out on access from outside the home in the event you need that login info somewhere else.
Edit: I’ll also point out that the best passwords are ones that rely on unaffiliated words, with numbers or symbols sprinkled in. If I need to remember the password without my phone/outside help, I’ll rely on a password of 3-4 random words. Many of the password management tools available have some sort of password generation and Bitwarden’s can generate randomized character passwords or randomized word passwords. Once I find a word combo I like and can remember somewhat, I add a capital randomly, a number somewhere, and maybe even a symbol to make a password that would take million of years with current tech to decipher.
As always, you do you, but I find password management tools such as Bitwarden, with a minimal yearly price tag, worth it for the ease of password generation/storage and the ability to access those passwords wherever I need to.
There’s no guarantee anything is “secure,” anymore. Even if you run a self-hosted password manager, it could still be compromised at the package-level or down the road through some exploit. I will say that since I started using Bitwarden as my main password manager, I have had to worry less about company data breaches and stolen passwords. I have no need to reuse passwords for any site or service. I can use the built-in 2FA with sites that require it and don’t have to have multiple apps. I can share passwords with my wife if she needs to access something under my name.
In addition to storing logins, I can store secure notes, even storing login-specific notes within the login details for things like one-time-use passwords, etc. I can store various credit/debit cards and recall them into payment systems whenever I want, without storing them in a browser. When using the phone, I can tie the biometrics to the unlocking of my vault so, with the vault locked, I can easily unlock it to find the login/info I need to submit to an app or website.
Obviously, all this comes with their own risks, but the level of risk of a password management is far lower than the risk of reused passwords and the mismanagement of security at the corporate-level. If you’re really hard-up to keep your stuff offline, other products exist that are locally stored, but you’ll likely miss out on access from outside the home in the event you need that login info somewhere else.
Edit: I’ll also point out that the best passwords are ones that rely on unaffiliated words, with numbers or symbols sprinkled in. If I need to remember the password without my phone/outside help, I’ll rely on a password of 3-4 random words. Many of the password management tools available have some sort of password generation and Bitwarden’s can generate randomized character passwords or randomized word passwords. Once I find a word combo I like and can remember somewhat, I add a capital randomly, a number somewhere, and maybe even a symbol to make a password that would take million of years with current tech to decipher.
As always, you do you, but I find password management tools such as Bitwarden, with a minimal yearly price tag, worth it for the ease of password generation/storage and the ability to access those passwords wherever I need to.