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How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

bitwarden.com

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Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#21

Post by saghm »

Ringz wrote: post #9

It's been like this for years. However, with one of my own domains and a catch all rule in the e-mail server. Why? From time to time, some services require that you send emails with exactly this e-mail address as the sender. And that doesn't just work with most services. Because in such a case, you have to turn exactly this e-mail address into a real account with a mailbox.

For me, the value of using aliases on my own domain isn't anonymity, it's provenance; I can tell where my email was obtained from based on the the prefix used. If I get an email sent to git@, I know that someone (or something) was looking at git logs to get it, if it's sent to resume@, I know someone got it from my resume, etc.

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#22

Post by uselpa »

Ringz wrote: post #9

It's been like this for years. However, with one of my own domains and a catch all rule in the e-mail server. Why? From time to time, some services require that you send emails with exactly this e-mail address as the sender. And that doesn't just work with most services. Because in such a case, you have to turn exactly this e-mail address into a real account with a mailbox.

Not necessarily. You can for example configure both Thunderbird and mailcow to allow you to reply from any address (of the domains you manage, of course), without having to create the mailbox.

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#23

Post by tamimio »

That’s great, but there’s a caveat. When I normally create a random email with my own domain as a username, I am not tied to a specific service. I can always migrate to another one without having to take any action. However, if I used this with Fastmail, for example, the generated emails are with fastmail.com or similar domains that aren’t under my control. If I wanted to migrate in the future, I would have to redo all of these randomly generated emails.

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#24

Post by tamimio »

saghm wrote: post #21
Ringz wrote: post #9

It's been like this for years. However, with one of my own domains and a catch all rule in the e-mail server. Why? From time to time, some services require that you send emails with exactly this e-mail address as the sender. And that doesn't just work with most services. Because in such a case, you have to turn exactly this e-mail address into a real account with a mailbox.

For me, the value of using aliases on my own domain isn't anonymity, it's provenance; I can tell where my email was obtained from based on the the prefix used. If I get an email sent to git@ , I know that someone (or something) was looking at git logs to get it, if it's sent to resume@ , I know someone got it from my resume, etc.

Pretty much my exact same reason, plus the separation of concerns concept. If a service got breached and that email leaked, I don’t have to worry about using that email to brute force other services.

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#25

Post by toomuchtodo »

tamimio wrote: post #23

That’s great, but there’s a caveat. When I normally create a random email with my own domain as a username, I am not tied to a specific service. I can always migrate to another one without having to take any action. However, if I used this with Fastmail, for example, the generated emails are with fastmail.com or similar domains that aren’t under my control. If I wanted to migrate in the future, I would have to redo a…

It's an important consideration; email sovereignty is at odds with a domain hosting relay aliases where you can blend in with everyone else. Perhaps the solution is a mechanism where you can migrate aliases between services, creating new aliases and updating at each service, and invalidating old aliases, all programatically. Somewhat similar to token and secret rotation. It's just a string identifier that can be an email target.

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#26

Post by dinglestepup »

saghm wrote: post #21
Ringz wrote: post #9

It's been like this for years. However, with one of my own domains and a catch all rule in the e-mail server. Why? From time to time, some services require that you send emails with exactly this e-mail address as the sender. And that doesn't just work with most services. Because in such a case, you have to turn exactly this e-mail address into a real account with a mailbox.

For me, the value of using aliases on my own domain isn't anonymity, it's provenance; I can tell where my email was obtained from based on the the prefix used. If I get an email sent to git@ , I know that someone (or something) was looking at git logs to get it, if it's sent to resume@ , I know someone got it from my resume, etc.

In most cases you can have the same level of provenance with a plus addressed email, without needing to support a custom domain.

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#28

Post by tamimio »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #25
tamimio wrote: post #23

That’s great, but there’s a caveat. When I normally create a random email with my own domain as a username, I am not tied to a specific service. I can always migrate to another one without having to take any action. However, if I used this with Fastmail, for example, the generated emails are with fastmail.com or similar domains that aren’t under my control. If I wanted to migrate in the future, I would have to redo a…

It's an important consideration; email sovereignty is at odds with a domain hosting relay aliases where you can blend in with everyone else. Perhaps the solution is a mechanism where you can migrate aliases between services, creating new aliases and updating at each service, and invalidating old aliases, all programatically. Somewhat similar to token and secret rotation. It's just a string identifier that can be an e…

Or maybe having an option to generate aliases using my own domain. I don’t mind exposing my domain or even creating a new domain only for this purpose, say @aliasdomain.com. That way, I am still in full control and utilizing the generated aliases.

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#29

Post by dinglestepup »

tamimio wrote: post #23

That’s great, but there’s a caveat. When I normally create a random email with my own domain as a username, I am not tied to a specific service. I can always migrate to another one without having to take any action. However, if I used this with Fastmail, for example, the generated emails are with fastmail.com or similar domains that aren’t under my control. If I wanted to migrate in the future, I would have to redo a…

As mentioned somewhere in this thread, using a custom domain poses other risks, in some cases more significant. All your aliases will be forever tied to your identity (and potentially de-anonymized by a single leak).

Re: How to use the Bitwarden forwarded email alias generator

#30

Post by amelius »

dinglestepup wrote: post #27
amelius wrote: post #20

How is this different from Firefox Relay?

It's not in the same category. You can use Firefox Relay as an alias generator within Bitwarden. It provides a convenient UI and an integration with the password manager.

I still don't understand why I would need Bitwarden if I use Firefox Relay, sorry.
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