April 2026 at 1Password: Post-quantum protection, External Checks close the access gap, and AI-era security

In April, we began rolling out new protections that will keep your data safe in a world with quantum computers, we expanded how teams can enforce access with External Checks in 1Password Device Trust, and shared new thinking on AI agents, credential sprawl, and what it takes to secure systems in a faster-moving threat landscape.

In case you missed it

A first step toward post-quantum security

Introducing the first major milestone in our post-quantum cryptography (PQC) journey: as post-quantum protection in the 1Password web app!

1Password now supports hybrid post-quantum key exchange in PQC-capable browsers like Chrome or Firefox. It all happens automatically – no user action required. This helps protect against "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks, where adversaries capture encrypted traffic today in the hope that future quantum computers will be able to decrypt it.

This is the first phase of a broader post-quantum roadmap focused on protecting your data against the threats of today and tomorrow.

Read more about our first step toward post-quantum security.

Building a Mythos-ready security program

AI is accelerating how quickly vulnerabilities can be found and exploited, and security programs need to keep up.

We looked at what security leaders can do now to prepare for a world where AI-driven vulnerability discovery happens at machine speed. The takeaway: patching still matters, but it can't be the entire strategy. Teams also need to limit the blast radius by controlling access, isolating agentic identities, replacing long-lived secrets, and making it harder for a single exploit to escalate into a larger breach.

Read the full post on building a Mythos-ready security program.

External Checks in Device Trust

1Password Device Trust can now factor in signals from other systems before allowing access to protected apps.

With External Checks, access decisions can include more than device posture. Admins can pull in things like security training completion, policy acknowledgments, MFA enrollment, active employment status, and other verification signals from external systems.

External Checks closes the gap between having a policy in place and actually enforcing it when someone tries to reach company apps and data.

Learn more about External Checks in 1Password Device Trust.

What we learned using AI agents to refactor a monolith

We shared a behind-the-scenes look at how 1Password used AI agents to help refactor a large Go monolith.

The work demonstrated how agents can be genuinely useful, especially for analyzing large codebases, building deterministic tools, and executing well-scoped changes. It also showed where they still need strong constraints, clear specifications, and human judgment.

Read more about what we learned using AI agents to refactor a monolith.

Protecting against OAuth-based supply chain breaches

Credential sprawl continues to spread across SaaS apps, developer tools, automation workflows, and AI agents. OAuth makes it easy to connect new tools, but those connections can quietly become supply chain risks when permissions are broad, long-lived, or poorly tracked.

We looked at how OAuth-based supply chain attacks happen, how Google Workspace admins can check which third-party apps currently have access, and why ongoing discovery is more effective than a one-time audit.

Read more about protecting against OAuth-based supply chain breaches and credential sprawl.

Chasing Entropy (Season 2)

Season two of Chasing Entropy kicked off in April with three new episodes:

• Why secure-by-design is an incentives problem, with Bob Lord. Dave Lewis and Bob Lord get into secure-by-design principles, AI systems, software supply chains, and why security outcomes need to be owned at the organizational level.
• What cyber conflict reveals about power and doctrine, with Allie Mellen. Dave talks with analyst and author Allie Mellen about cyber conflict, attribution, geopolitics, and why defenders need to understand intent, not just indicators.
• Why friction is a security risk, with Dustin Heywood. Dave and IBM's Dustin Heywood (aka EvilMog) get into agentic AI, machine identity, quantum planning, and why security controls that add friction tend to get bypassed.

Listen to Chasing Entropy wherever you get your podcasts.

Random but Memorable

April brought three new episodes of Random but Memorable to catch up on:

• What it takes to protect – and break into – data centers with Deviant Ollam
• Are you oversharing with AI? Author Jamie Bartlett has thoughts
• What to do if you’ve been hacked, with Glenn Wilkinson

This month covered the physical side of security, safer AI habits, what to do after a compromise, and how supply chain attacks are feeding into one another.

Release note highlights

Browser extension

• Added settings that let you choose which item types appear as autofill suggestions in the inline menu.
• Reorganized Autofill settings for easier navigation.
• Fixed an issue where the browser extension didn’t unlock with the 1Password app.
• Fixed issues with the sign-in banner and Quick Access suggestions in Chrome and Chromium-based browsers on Mac.
• Fixed several autosubmit and website-specific autofill issues.

Mac, Windows, and Linux

• Improved localization across supported languages.
• Updated the wording for unlock preset options.
• Fixed an issue where a LastPass import could fail if the account had multi-factor authentication enabled.
• Improved how 1Password recovers drafts of items.
• App icons shown in SSH, CLI, and SDK authentication prompts now display more quickly.
• [Mac only] Improved handling for shortened Apple Maps links.
• [Windows only] Fixed an issue where 1Password couldn’t be used as the Windows passkey manager when installed on an external drive.
• [Linux only] Added a “Start at login” setting, enabled by default in Settings > General.

iOS and Android

• Improved localization across supported languages.
• Updated the wording for unlock preset options.
• Improved how 1Password recovers drafts of items.
• [iOS only] Fixed an issue that could cause excessive background battery use after using AutoFill.
• [iOS only] Fixed an issue that could prevent 1Password for Safari from unlocking.
• [Android only] Fixed a crash that could occur when first launching the app.

1Password CLI

• Added Shell Plugin support for Claude Code CLI, Scaleway CLI, AWS SAM CLI, AWS eksctl, AWS awslogs, and OpenAI Codex CLI.
• The AWS CDK shell plugin now supports AWS profiles that assume a role with the --profile flag.
• op run now properly terminates subprocesses when cancelled.
• 1Password CLI commands now support the Account Trust Log when authenticating with the 1Password desktop app.