Telecommunications firm achieves 100% password management adoption with Bitwarden

Founded: 2014

Industry: Telecommunications

Employees: 200

Size of IT team: 3

Locations: North Carolina and Virginia

Bitwarden seats: 250

RiverStreet Networks is a telecommunications firm offering services to rural communities in the American Southeast. Headquartered in North Carolina, the organization provides fiber internet, internet, security, surveillance, telecommunications, communications, and business solutions to its customers. Like most successful companies, RiverStreet needed a way to safely manage and store the passwords that were critical to protecting sensitive data. The business researched a solution that would enable secure sharing of credentials and an organizational structure that would allow for granular permissions.

While some RiverStreet Networks employees were individually using a password solution, it had not been deployed to the larger organization. Over time, the RiverStreet Networks IT team realized it needed to make a change in order to guard against potential data theft. 

“We had a lot of users with sticky notes on their desk and users who were sticking them under their keyboards and putting them in their desk drawers,” said the the RiverStreet IT Team. “We also noticed most users had the same password for all accounts.”

With a security shift top-of-mind, the RiverStreet IT team began reviewing solutions. They focused on several, including 1Password, Dashlane, and Keeper.

After weighing internet research, considering word-of-mouth, and reading reviews in publications such as PC Magazine, RiverStreet Networks settled on Bitwarden as its password manager of choice. According to the RiverStreet IT team, Bitwarden offered a much stronger enterprise solution than its runner-up, Dashlane.

“There is so much we value in Bitwarden,” said the RiverStreet IT team. “To start, the customer service is first-class. Any question we had, we had a response within an hour. And the documentation is second-to-none. The solution is also easy to use and its cross-platform availability and web browser option make doing business quicker and more convenient for our employees out in the field, who often alternate between devices.”

RiverStreet Networks is particularly appreciative of user access controls for Bitwarden Collections, which enables organizations to grant permissions to specific users and groups. “The ability to drill down on permissions in such a granular manner has made privileged access control much easier,” said the RiverStreet IT team. 

The team is also heavily reliant on Bitwarden Send, a feature that allows users a secure, simple way to share information directly with another person. Employees can easily transmit text or files including passwords, business documents, and financial information. Organizations can also set more advanced security parameters by specifying a deletion date, expiration, and maximum access count, among other options. “We sometimes have to send information to individuals outside our organization and have major peace of mind knowing that information is encrypted end-to-end,” said the RiverStreet IT team. 

RiverStreet Networks also relies on the Bitwarden integration with Duo Security for organization-wide two-factor authentication (2FA) to further shore up its security. The 2FA option adds an extra layer of protection to the Bitwarden vault because it requires authentication from a secondary device when a user logs in. According to the RiverStreet IT team, which has overseen Bitwarden 2FA integration with Duo Security, “Utilizing 2FA isn’t optional. If an employee is logging into Bitwarden, they’re using 2FA.”

The RiverStreet IT team estimates it took about two months to deploy Bitwarden to RiverStreet’s distributed employee base. They started by ensuring IT was comfortable using Bitwarden and then led the charge in pushing it out to groups. While RiverStreet has numerous employees in the field, a setup that can sometimes make deployment more challenging, the overall transition proved straightforward. “The only pain point we had was scheduling time with our employees to set up their Bitwarden accounts,” said the RiverStreet IT team. 

RiverStreet took a hands-on route and manually trained its team members on how to use Bitwarden, a decision that paid off in dividends. Said the RiverStreet IT team, “We have 100% adoption, meaning all employees have an account.”

As RiverStreet began its Bitwarden rollout, it utilized the Bitwarden vault health reports to check for redundant and weak passwords. “It was eye-opening and alarming for users to see how many times they used the same password,” said the RiverStreet IT team. “After we implemented Bitwarden, we updated the frequency and complexity of our domain accounts. We also required the use of stronger and unique passwords and increased the frequency of password rotation.”

The RiverStreet IT team notes that in the past, employees frequently forgot their passwords and had to reset them. Since deploying Bitwarden, this challenge has been virtually eliminated. They also cite the Bitwarden Account Recovery option as a pivotal tool in alleviating a potentially risky situation.

“We have used the feature several times,” said the RiverStreet IT Team. “When a user left the company, being able to recover their account was a game-changer. Thanks to the Bitwarden account recovery, we are able to seamlessly move forward.”

As it continues on its path of growth, RiverStreet has plans to deploy Bitwarden across its newly acquired subsidiaries. When asked what is working well with Bitwarden: “Everything,” says the customer team.

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