Passwords have been the weakest link in enterprise security for decades—and the numbers bear this out. The average cost of a single password reset is $70 per incident, covering support labor, infrastructure, and downstream productivity loss. The industry’s response is clear: passkeys are replacing passwords—and adoption is accelerating faster than any previous authentication technology.
In 2026, 87% of enterprises are actively deploying or piloting passkeys, up from 53% just two years prior. The passwordless authentication market reached $24.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $55.7 billion by 2030. This is not a trend in its early stages—it is a transition in full effect.
This article explains what passkeys are, why they matter for your organization’s security posture, and how to implement them in eight practical steps.
A passkey is a FIDO cryptographic credential that replaces passwords entirely.
When you register a passkey with a service, your device generates a public-private key pair. To authenticate, the device signs a unique challenge with the private key—verified by the service using the public key— and its usage requires either your biometric or device PIN.
No password is created, stored, transmitted, or potentially stolen. There is nothing for an attacker to phish.
Passkeys exist in two forms:
Synced passkeys—private key stored in a sync fabric (such as Apple iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager) and available across all user’s devices connected to this fabric. They prioritize convenience and are well-suited to consumer applications.
Device-bound passkeys—private key stored on a single device and which cannot leave this device. These provide the highest assurance level and are the appropriate choice for enterprise environments, privileged access, and compliance-driven use cases.
RSA’s complete guide to passwordless authentication covers how passkeys fit within a broader identity security architecture.
Passkeys deliver improvements across three dimensions that security leaders care about most:
Security: phishing eliminated by design. Passkeys are cryptographically bound to the domain where they were registered. A phishing site with a lookalike URL receives a response that is mathematically invalid for the real service. According to Google’s research, accounts protected by passkeys are 99.9% less likely to be compromised than password-only accounts. RSA’s own findings—explored in Are Passkeys Ready for Enterprise Use?—confirm that device-bound passkeys eliminate the entire class of credential-interception attacks.
User experience: faster, frictionless sign-in. Passkey authentication is a single biometric gesture or PIN tap. No password to remember, no OTP to wait for, no push notification to approve. Organizations adopting passkeys consistently report higher successful sign-in rates, faster authentication, and measurably reduced user friction. Microsoft’s decision to make passkeys the default sign-in for new accounts in May 2025 drove a 120% increase in successful authentications.
Cost reduction: fewer help desk calls, lower fraud rates. Password resets are one of the largest recurring IT support costs. Eliminating passwords removes the reset workflow entirely. Organizations that have moved to passkeys report substantial reductions in help desk volume and SMS authentication costs—significant savings for large-scale deployments.
The security gains apply universally, but the urgency varies by sector:
Financial services: PCI DSS 4.0 explicitly requires phishing-resistant MFA for cardholder data environment access, with passkeys cited as a qualifying mechanism. Fintech leads all industries at approximately 60% active passkey adoption among eligible users in 2026.
Healthcare: HIPAA-regulated environments benefit from passkeys’ elimination of password sharing and credential reuse, both persistent problems in clinical settings where quick device access is operationally critical.
Federal and defense: Executive Order 14028 and OMB M-22-09 mandate phishing-resistant MFA. Device-bound passkeys meeting FIPS 140-3 Level 3 certification fully satisfy this requirement.
Enterprise SaaS and remote work: With 75% of organizations operating in hybrid environments (RSA ID IQ Report 2026), passkeys provide consistent, phishing-resistant authentication across cloud, on-premises, and remote access scenarios without requiring users to manage separate credentials for each system.), passkeys provide consistent, phishing-resistant authentication across cloud, on-premises, and remote access scenarios without requiring users to manage separate credentials for each system.
Enterprise passkey adoption is achievable in a structured rollout. Here is a proven eight-step approach:
Step 1: Audit your current authentication landscape. Map every access point: VPN, cloud apps, on-premises systems, privileged access workstations. Identify which still rely on passwords or phishable MFA. This inventory becomes your deployment roadmap.
Step 2: Choose your passkey type. For enterprise use, device-bound passkeys are the right default for privileged accounts and regulated access. Synced passkeys may be appropriate for lower-risk, consumer-facing applications. RSA’s analysis of enterprise passkey strategies helps frame this decision.
Step 3: Select a FIDO2-certified platform. RSA ID Plus is FIDO2-certified and supports device-bound mobile passkeys via the RSA Authenticator App, device-bound hardware passkeys via the RSA iShield Key 2 Series and other FIDO security keys, synced passkeys, QR Code, legacy OTP and push authentication, allowing you to modernize without abandoning existing infrastructure.
Step 4: Enable passkeys in the RSA Authenticator app. For mobile passkeys, enable FIDO authentication in the RSA ID Plus admin console and enable use of the RSA Authenticator App as a FIDO authenticator. Users register their device-bound passkey on first enrollment—no additional hardware required.
Step 5: Run a controlled pilot. Start with a defined group: IT staff, a single business unit, or privileged users. Measure successful authentication rates, help desk impact, and user satisfaction before broad rollout.
Step 6: Integrate with your IAM and enterprise apps. RSA ID Plus integrates with SecurID and the full range of enterprise applications—Microsoft 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Cisco AnyConnect, and hundreds of others — so passkeys work consistently across your environment without rebuilding authentication flows.
Step 7: Establish lifecycle management procedures. Define what happens when a device is lost or stolen, or an employee leaves. With RSA ID Plus, passkeys are managed centrally—enrollment, deprovisioning, and recovery all handled through a single administrative plane, with no gaps in the user lifecycle.
Step 8: Train end users and track adoption. Passkeys are easier to use than passwords—but the first registration may require a guided moment. Short training on how to enroll and use biometric authentication reduces friction. Track adoption rates, fallback authentication frequency, and help desk ticket volume to measure progress.
Passkeys are not an emerging technology—they are the authentication standard that enterprises are adopting now, at scale. The combination of phishing resistance by design, dramatically improved user experience, and measurable cost reduction makes the case for passkeys stronger than any previous authentication advance.
The 2026 RSA ID IQ Report found that 90% of organizations still face challenges removing passwords—even as 69% reported a breach resulting from inadequate identity security that same year. The gap between intent and implementation is real, but it is closeable. Organizations that act sooner gain a security and operational advantage; those that delay face growing exposure from credential-based attacks that legacy MFA cannot stop.
Ready to start your passwordless journey? Download RSA’s complete enterprise-grade passwordless solution brief to see how RSA ID Plus can take your organization from password-dependent to phishing-resistant — without disrupting the systems your teams rely on today.
A passkey is a cryptographic credential that replaces passwords for authentication. Your device generates a public-private key pair; the service stores only the public key, and signing in requires proof of the private key via biometric or device PIN—with no password transmitted over the network. Passkeys come in two forms: synced passkeys, where the private key is stored in a cloud sync fabric and shared across devices (suited to consumer use); and device-bound passkeys, where the private key never leaves the device—the appropriate choice for enterprise, privileged access, and compliance-driven environments.
Passkeys are cryptographically bound to the domain where they were created. When you authenticate, the passkey checks that the site matches the registered origin. A phishing site—even one that looks identical to the real thing—has a different domain and receives a cryptographically invalid response. There are no credentials to steal, relay, or replay.
Yes. According to a 2025 FIDO Alliance/HID survey, 87% of enterprises are actively deploying or piloting passkeys. Enterprise-grade solutions like RSA ID Plus support device-bound passkeys with centralized lifecycle management, integration across hundreds of enterprise apps, and hybrid environment support.
Passkeys deliver security (accounts 99.9% less likely to be compromised than password-only), cost savings (password-related overhead exceeds $1M annually for most enterprises), and user experience improvements (faster sign-in, higher success rates, reduced help desk volume). Organizations that deployed passkeys saw password usage drop 26% across their user populations.
Audit your current authentication landscape, choose your passkey type, select a FIDO2-certified platform, enable passkeys in your authenticator app, run a pilot group, integrate with your IAM and apps, establish lifecycle management, and train end users. See the RSA ID Plus product page for implementation guidance and integration support.
Yes. passkeys are recognized as phishing-resistant MFA under PCI DSS 4.0, NIST SP 800-63B (AAL2 and AAL3 with device-bound keys), Executive Order 14028, and OMB M-22-09 for federal agencies. Device-bound passkeys via FIPS 140-3 certified hardware meet the strictest government authentication requirements.
