Apple looking to deploy 1Password company-wide, company buy-out denied [u]
Apple is reportedly planning to deploy AgileBits' 1Password software across its entire workforce, claimed a report on Tuesday, but the same report alleging that the developer was going to be acquired by Apple was outright refuted.
Versions of 1Password are available for iOS and macOS.
The deployment, covering some 123,000 people, has involved "months of planning," BGR said citing an anonymous source. This includes not just corporate-level staff but retail workers, and even family members, since Apple is allegedly offering each worker a family plan with support for up to 5 other people.
Only 100 employees are expected to start using 1Password this week, but usage should reach full levels within the next month or two.
Apple is said to have made stringent demands in exchange for the contract, including a maximum four-hour response time for customer support, and translations of every support page into every major international language. To meet Apple's phone needs, AgileBits is claimed to have turned to a third-party call management service. The deal is also specifically for the standalone version of 1Password that syncs through iCloud, rather than one that uses other cloud providers like Amazon, which Apple is said to have rejected.
At AgileBits, every employee is said to have been paid a bonus, up to six figures in the case of top-level executives.
The BGR source indicated that AgileBits' annual revenue is normally around $5 million to $10 million, but that Apple would likely pay two to three times that amount if it goes forward with an acquisition. AgileBits CEO Jeff Shiner was supposedly overheard talking about an "Apple acquisition" at conference room in the company's Toronto offices.
At first glance, the acquisition makes very little sense. Apple's Keychain has much of the functionality of 1Password, minus the cross-platform nature of the latter.
Not clear is what would happen to the cross-plafform nature of the company after any acquisition. Additionally, how 1Password for Enterprise would be impacted is not at all clear at this time.
None of it may come to pass, however. A source inside Apple corporate not authorized to speak for the company was skeptical of the entire report.
"We haven't heard anything about this," the source told us. "Why? The Keychain does 95 percent of this already."
AppleInsider is continuing to pursue details surrounding the report.
Update: While neither confirming nor denying a contract to supply 1Password with Apple, AgileBits insists that no acquisition is in the cards.
Versions of 1Password are available for iOS and macOS.
The deployment, covering some 123,000 people, has involved "months of planning," BGR said citing an anonymous source. This includes not just corporate-level staff but retail workers, and even family members, since Apple is allegedly offering each worker a family plan with support for up to 5 other people.
Only 100 employees are expected to start using 1Password this week, but usage should reach full levels within the next month or two.
Apple is said to have made stringent demands in exchange for the contract, including a maximum four-hour response time for customer support, and translations of every support page into every major international language. To meet Apple's phone needs, AgileBits is claimed to have turned to a third-party call management service. The deal is also specifically for the standalone version of 1Password that syncs through iCloud, rather than one that uses other cloud providers like Amazon, which Apple is said to have rejected.
At AgileBits, every employee is said to have been paid a bonus, up to six figures in the case of top-level executives.
The BGR source indicated that AgileBits' annual revenue is normally around $5 million to $10 million, but that Apple would likely pay two to three times that amount if it goes forward with an acquisition. AgileBits CEO Jeff Shiner was supposedly overheard talking about an "Apple acquisition" at conference room in the company's Toronto offices.
At first glance, the acquisition makes very little sense. Apple's Keychain has much of the functionality of 1Password, minus the cross-platform nature of the latter.
Not clear is what would happen to the cross-plafform nature of the company after any acquisition. Additionally, how 1Password for Enterprise would be impacted is not at all clear at this time.
None of it may come to pass, however. A source inside Apple corporate not authorized to speak for the company was skeptical of the entire report.
"We haven't heard anything about this," the source told us. "Why? The Keychain does 95 percent of this already."
AppleInsider is continuing to pursue details surrounding the report.
Update: While neither confirming nor denying a contract to supply 1Password with Apple, AgileBits insists that no acquisition is in the cards.
Rumours of my acquisition are completely false. My humans and I are happily independent and plan to remain so.
-- 1Password (@1Password)
Comments
Why would Apple deploy a third-party password vault app? To support employees who want to use Chrome...?
Even acquiring the company would only serve to support use-cases outside the Apple ecosystem (e.g., enable an Apple user to pull down an iCloud Keychain password on their Windows machine at work), which is 180-degrees out of phase with Apple's historical practices.
With 1Password for Business, a company could create a new Vault called Accounting. You assign permissions to individual users (or even a user Group). Any one with access to that vault can access the passwords at any time. If someone new is added, just added them to the permitted list. Someone leaves, remove them from the access list (and, if needed, update the passwords on the files and in the vault.)
I pay for and use 1Password for Families. My wife, dad, son, and I all have our own accounts. I have several vaults, each with their own permissions. I have a personal vault (for all my personal data), I have a "Financial" vault with passwords for our Financial websites, (only myself and wife have access to it), and I have a "Video" vault with has our Netflix, HBOGo, etc. accounts (everyone has access to it.) There is no way to do this in Keychain.
This is the reason I use both Keychain and 1Password. I consider 1Password as my system of record, though, and Keychain as a copy only for convenience. Though with the new password API coming in iOS 12, I'm hoping I can clear out my Keychain and just use 1Password.
And if you're wondering why I don't just use Keychain only, it's because I use 1Password for more than just passwords, and like I said I consider 1Password as my system of record. Data management is leagues better in 1Password for me. When I create or change a password on my Mac, I let Keychain save the password when it asks. That's about the extent of the effort I put in for Keychain.
That said, they are remarkably open about their security processes, and it is clear from their writing they understand what they are doing. I would be extremely surprised if they lied about how their sync service works, and if it works how they say, it's as secure as local storage (read: as secure as your master password).
It's not even the best use of 1Password for iOS, since it can be added to the Share menus (that rectangle with the arrow) and will offer to fill in any relevant credentials. No switching out of Safari (or Chrome or whatever) or cutting and pasting needed.
I still use 1Password, syncing with my Dropbox account, not through their cloud service, although I understand, as with their Dropbox sync-ing, they don't keep the encryption key for the vault, only you have that. Or you can sync it via your own local hard disk, the option is still there. They'll sell you a straight licence, no subscription, if you want to use it that way.
From what I've seen online, the rumours of a buyout aren't founded on anything. Apple are just rolling it out, presumably for the Enterprise level management features. Of course, Apple could roll such features into the Keychain, but I don't know if they want to do that in the current climate. They don't need more grief from law enforcement over security.
Thanks for the tip on iOS. You're right, it was not difficult to do once I figured it out, but it was not at all clear that it was even a possibility (honestly, I virtually never use that menu - I'm sure many people are in the same boat.)
🙄