Bitwarden purchases Passwordless.dev for companies to authenticate users without using passwords
Open source password management platform Bitwarden The company’s first acquisition was to acquire a startup based in Sweden called Passwordless.devThe company specializes in helping developers integrate passwordless authentication technology within their software.
This news comes just after Bitwarden, the LastPass competitor to 1Password, broke. announced its first outside funding since its inception in 2015PSG and Battery Ventures contributed $100 million. The company also announced that it had raised an unannounced Series A round in 2019
The password problem
Bitwarden works in the same way as other password management tools. It allows individuals and companies to create complex passwords automatically and then store them in a secure vault. It helps people avoid reusing the same password across all of their online services. Bitwarden’s main selling point is its open source nature. Or at least it has source available. This means that Bitwarden promises transparency into the codebase and allows the community to contribute to the development of new features.
Bitwarden now wants to capitalize upon a growing trend in the online security industry, one that is looking at consigning passwords to history — after all, compromised passwords, indeed, are responsible for most business security breaches.
In fact, passwordless authentication has been promoted across all technology sectors. Last year, Apple, Google and Microsoft partnered Support for a new password-free sign in standard called WebAuthnWhile separately Apple introduced a new feature called Passkey It allows users to log-in to online services with their Apple device without requiring passwords.
There are also passwordless-focused startups elsewhere such as Hypr, Magic?, and Stytch VC money has been raised to help them in their respective ventures.
Bitwarden for its part already supports passwordless authentication such as biometric logins For Bitwarden’s own appsIt also supports physical 2-factor authentication (2FA), security keys like YubiKey. Bitwarden has brought Passwordless.dev under their wing to make it easier to integrate native biometric sign in smarts into software. This will also allow enterprises to modernize existing applications that rely on passwords.
Passwordless.dev, which was established in Sweden in 2020 has mostly remained under the radar ever since it’s inception. The company does offer APIs built on WebAuthna web standard that was developed by the FIDO alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium to support secure password logins. Passwordless.dev allows developers to easily add WebAuthn functionality to software using a few lines. This greatly reduces the cost and complexity of adding passwordless authentication.
Passwordless.dev allows companies implement password-free authentication within minutes
Bitwarden launched Passwordless.dev.by Bitwarden, a beta service that allows third-party developers embed biometric technology such as Touch ID or Face ID into their apps.
Bitwarden CEO Michael Crandell said in an email to TechCrunch, “This saves weeks coding do-it yourself passkey implementations.” “Enterprises have business applications that require passwords for authentication. We want to offer users passwordless experiences.” Bitwarden Passwordless.dev allows them to quickly add WebAuthn or passwordless authentication features to these applications.
Bitwarden will provide Passwordless.dev for its beta period, Q1 2023. The company stated that it will then offer paid plans with certain levels of usage.
Bitwarden won’t disclose how much Bitwarden paid for Passwordless.dev or how many employees it is taking on, but it confirmed that Passwordless.dev had not raised any outside funding in its nearly two-plus year existence. This means it didn’t have to break the bank to acquire the startup.
TechCrunch also received confirmation from Bitwarden that Passwordless.dev would continue to be available to developers, independent of any Bitwarden products.