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08/06/2026 4:34 pm
TL;DR: Passwordless authentication removes passwords in favour of one-time codes, biometrics, or FIDO tokens and is positioned as a usability and security improvement for users, according to Axiad. Its real value for practitioners is how it changes authentication trust assumptions inside zero trust and SSO programmes, not simply how people sign in.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Axiad: What Is Passwordless Authentication and How Does It Work?
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should organisations implement passwordless authentication without weakening account recovery?
A: Treat recovery as part of the authentication control, not an exception to it.
Q: Why does passwordless authentication matter in zero trust programmes?
A: Passwordless matters because zero trust rejects the idea that a user is trusted simply by knowing a password.
Q: What do security teams get wrong about passwordless authentication?
A: They often treat passwordless as a finish line rather than a control change.
Practitioner guidance
- Classify passwordless by assurance level Map each passwordless method to the applications and risk tiers it can support.
- Redesign recovery before rollout Test device loss, account reset, and re-enrollment paths as adversarial scenarios.
- Align passwordless with zero trust policy Tie passwordless decisions to device posture, session risk, and access context.
What's in the full article
Axiad's full blog post covers the implementation detail this post intentionally leaves for the source:
- Examples of one-time code, biometric, and FIDO token flows across common login journeys
- Practical guidance on selecting passwordless methods for different user populations
- Explanation of how passwordless fits with SSO in day-to-day authentication operations
- The vendor's own product context for organisations considering a passwordless rollout
👉 Read Axiad's explanation of passwordless authentication and zero trust →
Passwordless authentication in zero trust environments: are your controls ready?
Explore further
08/06/2026 6:15 pm
Passwordless authentication is a human IAM control, not a universal identity control. The article correctly describes passwordless as a way to improve login assurance for people, but its benefits stop at human authentication. It does not solve non-human identity sprawl, service account governance, or autonomous agent access because those actors do not authenticate like people do. Practitioners should keep the control in the human identity lane and avoid treating it as a general identity strategy.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 91.6% of secrets remain valid five days after the targeted organisation is notified, showing a critical gap in remediation procedures, according to Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, which is why authentication improvements without governance coverage leave blind spots untouched.
A question worth separating out:
Q: What is the difference between passwordless authentication and MFA?
A: Passwordless removes the password entirely, while MFA usually keeps the password and adds one or more extra factors. That difference matters because passwordless changes the primary trust anchor, not just the number of checks. MFA can still be strong, but it leaves password-based attack paths in place.
👉 Read our full editorial: Passwordless authentication and zero trust: what changes for IAM
