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08/06/2026 4:01 pm
TL;DR: IAM is shifting toward ICAM, passwordless credentials, and end-to-end credential lifecycle control across human and machine identities, according to Axiad. Axiad says Conductor was named a finalist in SC Media’s 28th SC Awards in the Best Authentication Technology category, and uses the announcement to argue that the practical lesson is that authentication programmes now rise or fall on credential governance, not password hardening alone.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Axiad: Axiad Conductor named a finalist in the SC Awards
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should security teams govern passwordless authentication at scale?
A: They should govern passwordless as a lifecycle problem, not only an authentication upgrade.
Q: Why does ICAM matter more than traditional IAM for modern enterprises?
A: ICAM matters because identity risk now sits in the credential lifecycle, not just in the sign-in event.
Q: How do organisations know if credential management is actually working?
A: They should look for complete ownership of issuance, recovery, and revocation, plus low exception volume across identity systems.
Practitioner guidance
- Map credential lifecycle ownership Document who owns issuance, renewal, recovery, and revocation for each credential type across human and machine use cases.
- Test passwordless recovery flows Review how users replace lost devices, reset credentials, and rebind authenticators without bypassing policy.
- Validate interoperability before scaling Run policy enforcement checks across identity providers, PAM, IGA, OS platforms, and authenticators.
What's in the full article
Axiad's full announcement covers the operational product detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Product framing for ICAM administrators who need to manage issuance, renewal, and revocation at scale.
- Description of the usability features the vendor cites for end-user credential recovery and replacement.
- Interoperability context across identity providers, hardware authenticators, and identity tooling ecosystems.
- Roadmap notes on passkey distribution and credential update workflows that implementation teams may need to evaluate.
👉 Read Axiad's announcement on Axiad Conductor and the SC Awards finalist spot →
ICAM and passwordless credentials: what this finalist spot means?
Explore further
08/06/2026 5:24 pm
Credential management is becoming the real control plane for modern authentication. The article is less about an awards finalist and more about the architectural shift from password handling to credential lifecycle governance. That shift matters because issuance, renewal, recovery, and revocation now carry the same risk weight once reserved for authentication alone. Practitioners should treat credential management as core identity infrastructure, not an add-on.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 97% of NHIs carry excessive privileges, increasing unauthorised access and broadening the attack surface, according to Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- 80% of identity breaches involved compromised non-human identities such as service accounts and API keys, according to NHI Mgmt Group research.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What is the difference between passwordless authentication and credential governance?
A: Passwordless authentication is the method of proving identity without passwords. Credential governance is the operational control over how those credentials are created, updated, recovered, and retired. Organisations need both, because a strong authentication method can still be undermined by weak lifecycle management.
👉 Read our full editorial: Axiad Conductor as SC Awards finalist reframes ICAM priorities
