Passwordless QR Code Login With Mutual Site Authentication

AerPass is a small identity authentication company founded in 2014 and based in Boulder, Colorado. Its founding team includes Mike Donnell as chief executive, Harry Sorensen as chief technology officer, Jess Taylor as chief operating officer, and Jeff Kern. The company has not raised institutional funding and operates with a very small headcount. It targets online services and payment providers that want to remove passwords from their login flow, and the individual users of those services. Its website was not reachable during research for this profile.

The login flow replaces the password field with a QR code. The user opens the AerPass app, scans the code shown on the sign-in screen, and taps to authorize; no password is typed and, according to the company, no personally identifying information is transmitted over the internet during the exchange. The distinguishing claim is that authentication runs in both directions: the site is verified to the user at the same time the user is verified to the site, which is intended to defeat lookalike phishing sites that harvest credentials.

AerPass competes in the QR code passwordless authentication segment, where most alternatives authenticate only the user and leave site verification to the browser and certificate chain. The mutual verification model and the claim that no personal data leaves the device are the company's stated differentiators. Because the public website did not resolve during research, the current state of the product, its integration options for relying parties, and its commercial availability could not be confirmed, and prospective users should approach the company directly.