1Password is bringing passkeys to businesses with a new standalone product named “Passage.”

With this new offering, the Toronto-based startup picks up its pace in the shift to the next generation of authentication. According to 1Password, Passage signals the company’s expansion beyond credential management and into helping organizations manage customer identities.

Over half of American consumers have abandoned carts due to difficulty managing passwords.
 

Founded in 2005, 1Password has long focused on its namesake, developing solutions for managing passwords. Over the past year however, the company has shifted its sights to a “passwordless future.”

Alongside Google and other tech giants like Apple and Amazon, 1Password is part of the FIDO Alliance, an open industry association whose mandate is to help reduce the world’s reliance on passwords.

Google started rolling out passkeys for its account users two weeks ago. 1Password CEO Jeff Shiner called the move a ‘tipping point for passkeys and making the online world safe.”

Passage comes from 1Password’s subsidiary of the same name. 1Password acquired Passage last year to develop passkey-first authentication for consumer-facing businesses.

This new product, named after the company it’s created from, allows businesses to implement passkeys for their apps and websites without their own authentication infrastructure.

Compared to traditional passwords, passkeys are said to be more resistant from phishing and hacking as there wouldn’t be user credentials for bad actors to steal. With passkeys, users only need their personal device that can authenticate their identities using a face scan or fingerprint.

For passkeys to be widely adopted however, Shiner said users need options, with the “ability to choose where and when they want to use passkeys so they can easily switch between ecosystems.”

RELATED: How 1Password plans to build a passwordless future

Research from the FIDO Alliance found that more than half (58 percent) of American consumers have abandoned carts and stopped their purchases due to difficulty managing passwords.

According to head of passwordless at 1Password Anna Pobletts, who co-founded and was CTO of Passage, companies can use passkeys to provide a more secure login experience, increase user engagement, and save on support costs.

1Password’s Passage product is offered in two ways: Passkey Complete is a passwordless authentication and identity management platform that can be integrated into all major platforms, browsers and devices. Passkey Flex, on the other hand, allows companies to add passkeys to their existing authentication infrastructure over time as customer adoption accelerates.

Both solutions allow businesses with up to 1,000 monthly active users to sign up and try them for free. Companies with more than 1,000 monthly active users will pay based on their usage.

Featured image courtesy 1Password.

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