SECURITY

1Password acquires just-in-time access provider Apono

Cybersecurity provider 1Password has acquired Apono Ltd. to enhance its artificial intelligence security capabilities. 

The companies announced the deal today without disclosing its financial terms.

Toronto-based 1Password, officially AgileBits Inc., develops a popular password manager of the same name. It’s available in a consumer edition and an enterprise version with an expanded feature set. Additionally, 1Password sells tools that help companies track their software-as-a-service spending and secure employee devices.

Apono has a narrower market focus. The Tel Aviv-based startup offers a so-called just-in-time access management platform that companies use to secure their cloud environments. It counts Intel Corp., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Workday Inc. as customers.

Apono’s platform limits the time window in which workers can access sensitive systems. If an engineer must log into a financial database to download a patch, the software might make the database’s management console accessible for 20 minutes. That approach minimizes the amount of time hackers have to launch cyberattacks if they gain access to an administrative account.

The platform can also manage the access permissions of AI agents. It requires agents to provide a natural language description of why they require access to a particular system. Apono analyzes the request, automatically provisions the necessary access permissions and deletes them when they’re no longer needed.

It activates additional controls when necessary. When the system that an agent asks to access contains sensitive data, Apono routes the request to an administrator for approval. If an agent attempts to perform actions that don’t align with the information in its access request, Apono adjusts its permissions.

Managing AI agents’ access to sensitive systems is also a focus of a 1Password product called Unified Access that debuted in March. The company will use Apono’s technology to enhance the offering. Additionally, 1Password will add integrations with a tool called Credential Broker that it launched into private beta test today.

Credential Broker provides an encrypted environment for storing passwords, application programming interface tokens and other login data. It includes a just-in-time access mechanism similar to the one offered by Apono. According to 1Password, Credential Broker only gives AI agents access to a credential “at the moment it’s needed” to log into a service. 

“By combining Apono’s just-in-time provisioning and intent-based policy enforcement with 1Password’s zero-knowledge vault and Credential Broker, we’re delivering the answer: unlocking the highest-value AI use cases while keeping people in control,” said 1Password Chief Executive Officer David Faugno.

Image: 1Password