Aegis authenticator. Beats all proprietary apps I've tried so far
this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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It supports importing data from various 2FA apps and even allows you to generate Steamguard codes.
Steamguard? Since when? That's awesome!
I honestly don't know. I set it up with steamguard-cli few months ago and it's working like a charm.
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Yep, it works perfectly
Bitwarden has it too, but eggs in one basket etc.
Also, for bitwarden it's either a paid feature or you have to self host it
One of those apps that just does its job, does it well and I never have to worry about it
Thank you!
I'd been a happy user of andOTP for many years, unaware until now that it had been abandoned and that I therefore needed ro replace it. I looked through the recommendations posted here and came to the conclusion that Aegis indeed was the best recommendation.
Migrating from andOTP to Aegis by exporting an encrypted backup file from andOTP to the local filesystem and importing it in Aegis worked flawlessly.
One thing that I really liked in andOTP that Aegis doesn't have was the PGP export, it was just very nice to get encrypted backup files that I could decrypt directly using standard software that I already have and know how to use, entirely independent from any particular app. Aegis instead provides the decrypt.py script to decode and decrypt its own encrypted backup file format and while I've tested and verified that this works fine, simply using standard PGP was nicer.
But that's a minor detail. All in all, Aegis seems to do everything I need, and does it well.
aegis
Bitwarden and it's fully cross-platform. I like that it auto copies the 2FA pin to clipboard after filling in login - cuts out extra clicks and copy movements.
Vaultwarden is also a great and simple to self-host backend written in Go that runs in Docker.
And very easy to set up and run without docker! For, you know, us folks with a BSD server 🙂
"Authenticator key (TOTP) storage is available to all accounts. TOTP code generation requires premium or membership to a paid organization (families, teams, or enterprise)."
It’s $10/y and a steal for that excellent software. I pay it and self host it just to support them.
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Kinda makes two factor authentication useless as they are both stored in the same place.
I think it is more about passwords being accessible after hacks etc. What you are referring to, is if Bitwarden were to be hacked, both are accessible. Online Bitwarden has securely hashed all the data, so that is pretty useless if anyone gets it. On my devices I use biometric login, and on desktop a Yubiky as 2FA into Bitwarden. I also have it set to request login every time the browser is restarted, just in case someone were to steal the session data from the browser.
But your point is very valid if a user were to have a weak password for their Bitwarden, or not to have a good 2FA for their Bitwarden login. You want to keep that basket of eggs as safe as you can.
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I'd suggest the following
The really important step is to make sure to export and backup your 2FA codes in a safe place.
You don't want to be left in the mud because you lost or wiped your phone that contains the only method to get into your important accounts.
I see how 2FAS cross-device sync works, but there is no mention for Aegis on their site how they do it? For me, not having good sync across my Android devices and Linux desktop is a showstopper.
BitWarden.
For me FreeOTP+ on fdroid is all I need. Its simple and just works.
I actually try to use authenticator apps as little as possible. Having to unlock your phone and open the app each time is too much hassle.
Instead I have four Yubikeys, not security keys, that I store my OTP 2FA codes on. One for personal codes, one for work codes, and the other two as backups for the first two. The backups protect me from hardware failure, the keys being stolen, or lost. One downside of the backup plan is having to scan the QR code twice, once per Yubikey.
Each Yubikey can store 32 OTP codes on the smart card part of the Yubikey. The 32 code limitation is why I have personal and work codes on separate keys. I did run into this limit.
This isn't the cheapest solution. In addition you could argue it also isn't the most secure, but that depends on the attack vector and circumstance.
With this setup I can use the Yubico Authenticator desktop to copy and paste the codes into the browser. While mobile I can use the mobile form of the same app. Also all my Yubikeys have NFC, so I can use that method if I want instead of just USB.
As mentioned in a different comment I highly recommend not storing 2FA codes in password managers like Bitwarden. It creates an all eggs one basket problem, which is exactly what 2FA codes are trying to avoid.
Having to unlock your phone and open the app each time is too much hassle.
And having to use two USB keys and double code scanning isn't? I'm glad your system works for you, but it sounds like a pain in the but to me lol.
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Aegis is my favorite.
aegis is great, but 2fas has Google Drive sync and a browser extension.
lack of sync is a dealbreaker for me.
I personally use KeePassXC (KeePassDX on android), it can have TOTP code generation for 2FA for any service. And since it's a password manager, it's secured by a master password.
When it comes to proprietary apps Authy is nice, it offers synchronisation between devices, but yeah, it involves cloud (someone's computer) and you need to give them your phone number, so that's for privacy, in the end you might as well use Google authenticator, it syncs between devices to, it's about who you trust more
andOTP is the only app I know of that's on F-Droid and has a feature to make an encrypted backup to a file.
Unfortunately it hasn't been updated in awhilee, but I dont think there's an alternative.
I see aegis supports automatic backups. I don't see it explicitly saying 'encrypted' backups though I too use andOTP but didn't realize it's not regularly maintained. I may check out aegis as it does support import from andOTP
Followup. Aegis does support encrypted backup. I had to do an unencrypted backup in andOTP so Aegis could import. Easy stuff
Edit: automatic backup doesn't encrypt? Or I am having trouble setting up
automatic backup doesn’t encrypt?
It does for me. Are you sure that your backup really isn't encrypted? Look in the JSON backup file, all your vault data should be encrypted and stored in one single long base64 encoded string with key name "db". Is that not so for you?
I had to do an unencrypted backup in andOTP so Aegis could import.
I just did an en encrypted backup from andOTP to the local filesystem and successfully imported it in Aegis. It worked flawlessly. Just in case someone else is reading this and is hesitant about how to migrate from andOTP to Aegis.
Mauth
I use Yubico Authenticator with my Yubikey (NFC and USB) and Vivokey Authenticator - which is a straight fork of the Yubico Authenticator - with my Vivokey Apex implant.
I recommend one of the FOSS apps in fdroid for this, don't use a proprietary one from Google Play (like the Google Authenticator).
The official GitHub app. Yes, it's not universal for other sites, but you get 2FA and a much more pleasant browsing experience.
For a universal solution, give Aegis a try.
Does anyone have any suggestion for iOS? Raivo seems to fallen from grace recently.
Bitwarden. Works with autofill too.
I'm just migrating away from github because of this. Sr.ht is looking promising.
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