KeePass, Bitwarden and LastPass are all excellent tools when it comes to sharing passwords securely among employees within your organization. Selecting the correct one for your organization will depend on a range of factors including the level of security you need, how much you can invest, and the degree of control that your IT department needs over the solution.
A password manager can greatly improve password security as it allows employees to generate strong, unique passwords for every account. Without a password manager, it is common for individuals to take shortcuts when generating passwords to make passwords easier to remember, which can leave accounts vulnerable to hacking. However, even when a password manager is used it is important for all employees adopt password best practices. These include:
- NEVER write down passwords
- ALWAYS try have have a nonsense phrase as your password, consisting of a string of random words
- NEVER share a password with a coworker
- ALWAYS make you password as long and complicated as possible
- NEVER use personal information in your passwords
- ALWAYS create a unique password that has not been used on another account or been used in the past
- NEVER forget to change your passwords at regular intervals
There will be occasions where you have no option but to share your password. In cases like this you must make sure that you do so safely. A password manager can allow you to do this without compromising the integrity of your devices or accounts. Using a solution like this will allow you to share login credentials with the people you trust without actually revealing your account passwords. So which of these solutions is best for secure password sharing?
- LastPass: The password sharing facility on this solution works quite well. All you need to do is visit your LastPass vault and enter the other person’s email address. They will be sent an invite and, once accepted, this will allow items to be shared from your account, and all changes are synced instantly with all users. Once you no longer need to share access to the account in question, you can simply create a new password and prevent other users from continuing to use your access details.
- Bitwarden: Password sharing on Bitwarden’s free subscription is quite limited and just permits sharing between platforms users. However, the Enterprise business plan has an excellent tool for businesses that comes with added sharing functionality. This is completed using a multistep “handshake” process that confirms the identity of all the participants. There are also user groups, fine-grained access controls, and APIs that allow integration of Bitwarden with other tools and systems.
- KeePass: This solution offers a different kind of password sharing. Unlike most solutions, Keepass Version 2 permits a range of users to access a shared password database. This means that a group or department working on one project or objective will be able to collaborate with other teams members without impacting productivity.
When it comes to secure password sharing, the Enterprise plan of Bitwarden is the best solution for organizations. LastPass performs an acceptable job while KeePass is easily the weakest of the three solutions that we reviewed. It is for this reason that our expert researchers recommend Bitwarden for secure password sharing.
