Privakey builds passwordless authentication for employees and for the users of a business’s own apps. People sign in with biometrics, a PIN or a device passkey instead of a password, and the cryptographic keys behind each sign-in stay on the user’s device.
It serves two audiences: IT teams that want to take passwords out of workforce sign-in, and product teams that want verified, passwordless confirmation inside their own customer-facing apps.
At A Glance
| Vendor | Privakey, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Category | Identity Verification, passwordless authentication |
| Identities covered | Employees and app users (human identities) |
| Deployment | Single sign-on service, plus mobile and desktop libraries for first-party apps |
| Founded | 2016, Philadelphia |
| Market classification | Identity Verification |
What Privakey Does
Passwords are easy to phish, reuse and steal, and they are a common way into a network during ransomware and breach campaigns. Privakey replaces them with asymmetric cryptography and device-based biometrics: the private key never leaves the user’s phone or computer, so there is no shared secret for an attacker to capture. The company’s mission is to “eradicate the need for passwords, simplify the user experience, and elevate security”. Inside a business’s own apps, the same approach turns complex customer transactions such as approvals or payments into a simple confirmation on the user’s device.
Products
Privakey SSO
Privakey SSO is single sign-on for enterprises and their employees, built to protect against phishing, ransomware and network breaches. Users authenticate with a cryptographic authenticator that combines their biometric data, PIN and passkey, and the product supports FIDO2 passkeys. It federates with Google Workspace, Microsoft and Okta environments and extends sign-in to hundreds of applications. The product is in Beta and aimed at small and midsize businesses.
Privakey IdS
Privakey IdS is for businesses that want strong authentication inside their own customer-facing apps rather than a separate login page. Users confirm who they are with biometrics, PINs or passkeys on their own device. IdS has three parts:
| Privakey ID | An identity service that checks each user’s digital identity is unique and can be verified. |
|---|---|
| Privakey StepUp | Adaptive authentication following the Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust Assessment (CARTA) model, raising or relaxing requirements in real time as risk changes. |
| Privakey Events | Records and manages authentication events so teams can follow what happened and when. |
Privakey CX
Privakey CX is the developer layer under IdS: a set of mobile and desktop libraries and Request Origins that fit into existing business processes. Teams adopting IdS plan the integration of CX components into their apps first, which is what puts the authenticator on the user’s device.
How It Works
Authentication runs between the user’s device and a central Auth Service operated behind IdS.
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| App libraries | Businesses embed the Privakey CX libraries in their mobile and desktop apps, which turns the app itself into the authenticator. Only the device’s public key is shared with the service. |
| Auth Service | The centralised Auth Service receives sign-in requests, applies StepUp risk rules and writes every authentication to Events. |
| Workforce federation | For employees, Privakey SSO sits in front of the organisation’s identity platform and hands authenticated sessions on to connected applications. |
Identities And Systems Covered
| Workforce users | Employees signing in to business applications through Privakey SSO. |
|---|---|
| App users | Customers and other users of a business’s first-party mobile and desktop apps, through Privakey IdS. |
| Credentials | Device passkeys, biometrics and PINs backed by asymmetric key pairs. |
| Identity platforms | Google Workspace, Microsoft and Okta, for single sign-on. |
Company Background
| Headquarters | Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. |
|---|---|
| Leadership | Charles Durkin, co-founder, President and CEO; Brian Ross, co-founder and Chief Product Officer. |
| Origins | The team grew out of a predecessor company that issued thousands of high-security identity credentials for federal government employees to NIST standards. |
| Patents | The main patent for the system, US9,813,400 B2, was granted in 2017. |
Note: This overview is compiled from Privakey’s publicly available information as of 3 November 2026. It is provided for information only. NHI Mgmt Group does not endorse any vendor, and nothing on this page represents the opinions of NHI Mgmt Group.