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08/06/2026 4:34 pm
TL;DR: Passwordless authentication reduces password dependence, but credentials management remains the bottleneck when identities are spread across systems, IT expertise is thin, and offboarding is slow, according to Axiad. The real problem is not the login method alone, but whether IAM can consolidate renewal, recovery, and deprovisioning across users, machines, and devices.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Axiad: Authentication Moving to Passwordless Authentication, Part 2
By the numbers:
- Employees frequently have more than 190 different passwords to log into the applications and systems they use every day.
- Studies show that 10% or more of employees can access their former employer’s data after leaving.
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should security teams reduce credential sprawl in passwordless programmes?
A: They should consolidate issuance, renewal, reset, and revocation into a single governance path wherever possible.
Q: Why does passwordless authentication still need strong deprovisioning?
A: Because passwordless changes the login factor, not the need to remove access when it is no longer valid.
Q: What do organisations get wrong about passwordless authentication?
A: They often assume the authentication method is the main security improvement.
Practitioner guidance
- Map every credential source to one lifecycle owner Inventory where passwords, tokens, certificates, and recovery methods are issued, renewed, and revoked.
- Test offboarding for complete access removal Run leaver scenarios that verify access is removed across all systems, including secondary platforms and recovery channels.
- Consolidate renewal and reset workflows Reduce the number of separate places where end users and administrators can renew or recover credentials.
What's in the full article
Axiad's full blog covers the operational detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Platform-level guidance on consolidating passwordless authentication across multiple IAM systems
- Operational trade-offs in recovery, renewal, and self-service reset workflows
- The practical differences between FIDO, PKO, and OTP enablement paths
- Implementation detail on reducing help desk load while maintaining identity assurance
👉 Read Axiad's blog on the challenges of moving to passwordless authentication →
Passwordless authentication: what IAM teams still need to fix?
Explore further
08/06/2026 6:17 pm
Passwordless fails when organisations treat authentication as a front-end change instead of a lifecycle control problem. The article shows that the hard part is still credential issuance, renewal, and revocation across a fragmented IAM estate. That means the governance failure is not the login method, but the inability to keep identity state aligned across systems. Practitioners should read passwordless as a lifecycle and control-plane problem, not a UI change.
The next phase of identity work is not another authentication factor. It is the reduction of lifecycle fragmentation across users, workloads, and increasingly autonomous systems, because security fails when renewal, recovery, and revocation live in separate places.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How do teams know whether passwordless is actually improving identity security?
A: Look for fewer identity silos, faster revocation, and fewer recovery paths that depend on manual intervention. If users still need to touch multiple systems to renew or recover access, the programme has not simplified governance enough. Effective passwordless should reduce operational complexity as well as password use.
👉 Read our full editorial: Passwordless authentication still fails on credential sprawl
