Ping’s purchase of Keyless signals expansion of identity capabilities

Multiple security pros and industry analysts contacted recently by SC Media agreed that Ping Identity’s Oct. 30 acquisition of London-based biometrics authentication company Keyless points to a trend in the identity market towards more strategic acquisitions.

The Ping-Keyless merger focused on delivering a biometric tool to frontline workers in industrial environments, the kind of targeted apps that industry pros say identity companies will focus on in the months ahead. 

“By integrating privacy-preserving biometric authentication, Ping is addressing emerging threats such as deepfakes while laying the groundwork for passwordless authentication and secure account recovery,” said Emmanuel Figueroa, senior research analyst for identity and access management at IDC.

Figueroa said the move signals a broader industry trend: identity platforms are expanding to include capabilities that were previously considered outside their core scope. The market is prioritizing platforms that can deliver:

End of large identity deals?

Security pros said economic constraints have made it unlikely we’ll see more deals like the $25 billion merger between Palo Alto Networks and CyberArk on July 30, which at the time was being called an “inflection point” for identity security awareness.

“The shift toward smaller, focused acquisitions signals a deeper reality,” added  Roy Katmor, co-founder and CEO at Orchid Security. “While identity has become the new perimeter, most major players remain constrained by private equity ownership and financial structures that limit bold, transformative bets.”

Expect to see more deals like the recent Ping-Keyless deal, or Okta’s purchase of Axiom in August, where the focus was on privileged access and developing a platform that can effectively manage both human and non-human identities (NHIs).

“Ping Identity’s acquisition of Keyless highlights a gap in the identity market: secure, frictionless access for frontline workers,” said Hank Thomas, co-founder and CEO of Strategic Cyber Ventures. “Biometrics make identity portable and user-friendly, which traditional MFA and password systems weren’t designed for.”

Identity tools for blue collar workers

Gary Orenstein, chief operation officer at Bitwarden, explained that the Ping-Keyless deal highlights how the market has moved beyond consolidation focused on directory and access platforms, and toward products that strengthen usability, privacy, and coverage across all work environments.

“Biometrics are emerging as a practical response to access gaps that persist for large portions of the workforce who lack dedicated or trusted devices,” said Orenstein. "Biometrics have gained traction among organizations looking to strengthen identity assurance in environments where device-based authentication is not always practical. They expand authentication coverage in settings such as shared workstations, manufacturing facilities, and regulated sectors like healthcare and finance where the use of personal or mobile devices is limited.”

Mark Townsend, co-founder and CTO at AcceleTrex, added that frontline workers have long been underserved by traditional IAM tools, which often assume access to personal or managed devices. Townsend said Ping’s acquisition of Keyless addresses this blind spot with privacy-preserving, deviceless biometrics — which allows for secure, phishing-resistant access without hardware dependencies.

“This is critical in sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics, where shared workstations or kiosk access has become the norm,” said Townsend. “The move reflects a broader shift toward inclusive identity strategies that extend zero-trust principles to every user, not just knowledge workers. The identity market is evolving too rapidly for monolithic consolidation to keep pace. Surgical acquisitions allow companies to plug specific capability gaps — like biometric authentication, decentralized identity, or behavioral analytics — without the overhead of integrating massive platforms.”