Password management company Bitwarden has acquired European-based startup Passwordless.dev, which provides an API framework that minimizes complexities for developers building passkeys and FIDO2 WebAuthn features.
According to Bitwarden, Passwordless.dev was founded as an open-source project with an aim to make passwordless authentication more developer friendly and help eliminate phishing attacks. The API is designed to give developers the right tools needed to accelerate passwordless authentication for global enterprises and help organizations integrate modern passwordless solutions into their existing applications.
When combined, Bitwarden says the companies can provide a turnkey solution built on the FIDO2 and Webauthn standards. As part of the acquisition, Bitwarden is launching the Bitwarden Passwordless.dev beta program to give enterprises, developers and security professionals the opportunity to test and provide feedback on the solution.
“Bitwarden started with a vision to help create a world where no one gets hacked,” the company says in a blog announcing the acquisition. “This means providing the best password management solution – across free and paid plans – for everyone. This also means embracing passwordless authentication as a way to supersede passwords and remove them as a potential threat vector for malicious actors.”
The company also details the passwordless features it already offers, including Biometric logins, security keys, and now Passwordless.dev and passkey support coming this year.
The company says Bitwarden Passwordless.dev provides an open source framework (codebase, sever, SDK) that allows developers to build device-native sing-in experiences such as Tough ID, Face ID and Windows Hello, saving weeks of coding do-it-yourself passkey implementations.
For enterprises with business applications relying on passwords, the solution can help them quickly add WebAuthn and passwordless authentication features to those applications.
Bitwarden will continue to provide password management solutions, and the company will also introduce secrets management this year, per the announcement.
Bitwarden Passwordless.dev will be available in beta with new pricing released in the second quarter, the company says.
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