1Password has launched a privileged access management (PAM) product, 1Password Privileged Access,
designed to reduce the long-lived permissions held by employees, service accounts, and AI agents. 1Password Privileged Access grants access when a user or system requests it, limits that access to the required task, and removes the permissions when the session ends. The product works across cloud environments, databases, Kubernetes, and other developer infrastructure.
The launch moves 1Password further beyond password management and also gives companies a way to control AI agents that may inherit employee permissions or keep access to credentials longer than needed.
1Password provisions access inside the target system
Just-in-time access is already a common feature across the privileged access management market. 1Password says its main difference is where and how those permissions are created.
Jason Meller, vice president of product at 1Password, told MSSP Alert, “Many privileged access products deliver just-in-time access by brokering a session, unlocking a vaulted credential, or assigning a user to a pre-built role. That architecture adds a layer between the user and the resource, and every layer is something that can be misconfigured or targeted.”
1Password Privileged Access provisions permissions directly inside the target system’s existing policy layer. That could mean creating an IAM role in Amazon Web Services or an RBAC binding in Kubernetes, with the access limited to the specific task.
“Access exists only for the task, then it is deprovisioned automatically when the work is done,” Meller said.
The product uses technology from Apono, which joined 1Password in June 2026. A lightweight connector deployed in the customer’s cloud handles provisioning, but user traffic does not pass through it. The product does not require a bastion host or an agent on every server.
“The connector has no access to customer data, and customers can remove it at any time without involving 1Password,” Meller said. “If there’s no standing access, there’s nothing for an attacker to find.”
Engineers can request access through Slack, Microsoft Teams, or a command-line interface. Policies determine whether a request can be approved automatically or needs to be routed to a reviewer. Every request, approval, and access event is logged. Those records can support compliance requirements under SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Emergency access does not require a permanent admin account
Many organizations still maintain permanent administrative accounts for outages, legacy applications, and other emergency scenarios. 1Password is positioning Privileged Access as a way to reduce those accounts over time rather than requiring a complete migration at launch.
“Access builds up gradually through projects and contractor engagements that get provisioned but never revoked,” Meller said. “1Password Privileged Access gives organizations a way to stop the accumulation without requiring them to migrate everything at once.”
The platform can prevent new standing permissions from accumulating in the systems where it is deployed. It also provides visibility into existing privileges so security teams can identify accounts that should be removed or reduced.
During an outage, an engineer can request access from the tools they already use, or an incident can trigger the access grant. Organizations define those policies in advance, including which on-call employees can receive automatic approval.
“An IAM role or RBAC binding is created in seconds with exactly the permissions the incident requires, time-boxed and logged like any other request,” Meller said. “When the incident resolves, that access is automatically deprovisioned.”
For databases and infrastructure that cannot support native just-in-time policies, 1Password can create a temporary account when access is requested and delete it when the session ends. Systems that cannot support temporary accounts remain visible through Access Discovery. That gives security teams an inventory of the permanent accounts they still need to manage.
“The exceptions become a managed list teams work down, instead of an unknown that surfaces in an audit,” Meller said.
Credential Broker moves secrets out of GitHub Actions workflows
1Password also placed Credential Broker for GitHub Actions into public preview. Credential Broker delivers credentials during an individual workflow run rather than storing long-lived secrets inside pipeline configurations. It verifies the identity making the request, limits the credential to that workflow, and records the delivery.
The approach is intended to reduce the number of static credentials stored in continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines. Those credentials can be exposed through configuration files, logs, compromised developer accounts, or software supply chain attacks.
Credential Broker also gives 1Password a way to manage machine and AI identities at runtime. A workload or agent receives access after it has been verified, with the credential limited to the specific action being performed.
Used together, Privileged Access and Credential Broker cover two parts of the access process. Privileged Access controls permissions inside infrastructure, while Credential Broker delivers credentials to verified workloads, automation tools, and AI agents.
New controls address secrets on developer machines
1Password is also adding three generally available capabilities to Enterprise Password Manager: Developer Watchtower, 1Password Environments, and Credential Governance.
Developer Watchtower looks for credentials stored in local .env files and directs developers to secure them in 1Password. Administrators receive visibility into credential exposure across developer machines.
1Password Environments lets developers import .env files into a 1Password vault. Applications and AI development tools can then access those secrets through 1Password’s Model Context Protocol server, keeping credentials off local disks and out of model context windows.
Credential Governance gives administrators a central view of company-owned credentials stored across employee and shared vaults. Security teams can identify business credentials, take ownership of them and control how they are accessed.
These capabilities address an area that can be difficult for security teams to monitor. API tokens, cloud keys and other secrets often spread across laptops, repositories and developer tools without central oversight. AI coding tools create another place where those credentials can be exposed, copied or reused.
Products will be sold separately
1Password plans to sell the products within its Unified Access platform separately rather than requiring customers to purchase the full portfolio.
“Organizations buy what fits their environment rather than a bundle they may only partially use,” Meller said.
Credential Broker is in public preview and is available to customers using a business-level Enterprise Password Manager plan or above. Privileged Access will be priced per seat.
The separate packaging could make it easier for companies to adopt the products in stages. A customer could begin with password and credential management, add runtime credential delivery for developer workflows and later extend just-in-time access controls across cloud and infrastructure environments.
