The bottom line: Passkey rollouts create new attack vectors through migration transitions and fallback mechanisms that can be deliberately exploited by attackers.
The introduction of passkeys as a passwordless authentication solution creates new entry points for attackers. The migration phases themselves become a security risk if planning and governance are not sufficiently thought through.
Passkeys are considered an advanced authentication method intended to enable phishing-resistant login procedures. Based on public-key cryptography, they promise a reduction in compromises from credential theft or social engineering. However, practical implementation in existing IT landscapes reveals critical gaps: during migration and rollout phases, transitional states emerge in which old and new authentication mechanisms coexist in parallel.
Professional attackers deliberately exploit these inconsistencies. They target users whose passkey migration is not yet complete, resort to fallback mechanisms, or exploit gaps in change management communication. Particularly critical are scenarios in which business continuity provisions (such as backup codes or emergency authentication options) are poorly documented or configured to be too easily accessible.
CISOs must therefore establish governance processes already during the planning phase of passkey implementations: clear timeboxes for migration steps, monitoring of legacy authentication mechanisms during transition, user provisioning workflows with strict authorization criteria, and continuous compatibility testing with critical applications. Equally relevant is training for support and identity teams to specifically recognize social engineering attacks targeting passkey migrations.
The supposed security improvement through passkeys must not obscure the fact that the implementation itself represents an operationalization risk – if it is not carried out methodically and with sophisticated change control.
Source: itwelt.at · Published 15 July 2026
Lumi AI News — AI-assisted curation pursuant to Article 50 EU AI Act. Paraphrase and classification by Lumi News Pipeline v1.7.3.