What is Bitwarden?
Bitwarden Browser Extension
Best Practices
Vault Organization
FAQ
Scope
While all users should be utilizing a password manager, some departments may be granted licenses to Bitwarden.
For those who do not have a Baker College Bitwarden license, please refer to the "Keep your passwords secure" KB for password manager options.
Bitwarden is Baker College's approved, licensed, cloud-based password management solution that allows you to store passwords, secure notes, or other sensitive information in an encrypted digital vault. It is accessible across platforms, including desktop, browser, and mobile devices, making it easy to retrieve and store credentials when and where you need them. Bitwarden is the preferred and secure tool for managing work-related passwords.
The browser extension provides convenient in-browser access to stored credentials, performs auto form completions for easy logins, and even generates strong passwords automatically.
Go to https://bitwarden.com/download to install the browser extension. The extension is currently available for most major browsers.
For steps to get started using the browser extension, view the KB article on the Bitwarden help center: https://bitwarden.com/help/getting-started-browserext
To maintain the highest level of security, please follow these guidelines:
- Choose a strong, unique master password. Once you are using Bitwarden, it will handle remembering other passwords for you. However, this is one of few passwords you'll need to remember!
- Never share your master password with anyone.
- Do not write down passwords, store as a note on your phone, or send them over email or plain text.
- When the need arises to share a specific password among colleagues, use the collection features as discussed below.
- Do not store personal passwords within Baker College's vault, as they are not available without an active Baker College account. Bitwarden offers a personal account for this purpose, as discussed in the table below.
Vault Organization
Managing both personal and work credentials can be complex. Bitwarden supports separate vaults for personal and organizational use.
- There are a few details to keep in mind when deciding which vault to store your credentials.
- Do not store personal credentials in the Baker College organization vault.
- Do not store organization credentials within a personal vault.
- Remember, access to the Baker College organizational and your "My Vault" will be revoked someday during the off-boarding process.
Table 1 Caption - Table explaining the correct password vault to store your credentials between the Baker College vault, My Vault, and Personal Vault.
| The Three Vault Approach |
| |
"Baker College" Vault (in Baker Bitwarden) |
"My Vault" (in Baker Bitwarden) |
Personal Vault (any reputable password manager of your choosing - which could also be a separate Bitwarden account. Visit the Keep your passwords secure KB to learn more) |
| Purpose |
Vault "Collections" designed to store credentials that need to be accessed by multiple members of your team |
A place to store your individual work-related accounts. |
A vault of your choosing to store your private, non-work accounts. |
| What to store here |
Items to be shared among team members (like a shared social media account). These items are stored in "Collections" |
Example items could be a vendor dashboard login or your HR payment portal login. |
Items, such as the login for your personal banking, private email, streaming services, home utility provider. You may also want any finance accounts (such as employee pension) that would remain with you, even when you depart the college. |
| Who has access |
Your team and/or others designated within a Bitwarden Collection |
Only you. IT may be able to assist with emergency recovery. |
Only you. Baker has no access or ability to aid in recovery of your vault. |
- I forgot my Master Password! What to I do?
- Contact Baker IT support with a Login Issues service request and expect extra verification steps.
- I have more questions about Bitwarden. Where do I go?
- What is a Vault?
- A secure place to store your login-related data.
- What is a Collection?
- A shared container where login-related data is stored and multiple users can access. Permissions to collections are managed by Baker IT and access granted by use-case.
- What is a Folder?
- Your personal method to organize data you have access to. In a folder you can combine items from the Baker College Vault and your My Vault in what fits best in your work flow.