According to passwordless authentication statistics, password less authentication market revenue will reach $15.6 billion in 2022 and is projected to surpass $53.6 billion by 2030. With tech giants like Google Microsoft and Apple putting their weight behind password less authentication, we could see it get adopted by a wide range of enterprises and businesses as well.

Just like every other technology, passwordless authentication also has its downsides. Unfortunately, no one is talking about it and businesses who are planning to go passwordless are unaware of the dark side of passwordless authentication. If you are interested in learning about the cybersecurity risks associated with passwordless authentication then this article is for you.

In this article, AntiDdos will highlight seven cybersecurity risks associated with passwordless authentication that no one is talking about.

7 Dangerous Cybersecurity Risks of Passwordless Authentication

Here are seven deadly cybersecurity risks of passwordless authentication you can not afford to ignore.

1. Putting User Devices at Risk

When you implement passwordless authentication on user devices and it gets stolen, the criminals who have access to devices can easily access your account and data. Not only that, they can easily access the OTP, codes and other details sent to you via email or SMS for user authentication purposes.

Another tactic that threat actors can use is SIM swapping. They can fool your mobile service provider by pretending to be a legitimate user and asking them to send a SIM card to them. This way, they can intercept text messages and can access any service that relies on SMS. We have not even talked about the malicious apps yet. Instead of allowing BYOD, organizations can minimize the risk by providing them multi-factor cryptographic secured device authenticators to their employees and investing in mobile device management solutions to gain better visibility into devices.

Multi-factor cryptographic authenticator devices are capable of preventing interception and misuse of PIN, OTP and codes sent via SMS. It can also minimize the risk of SIM swapping by adding an extra layer of security on top. You can even separate personal data from professional data so even if the device is compromised, sensitive business information remains the same.

2. Little To No Authentication Provisioning and Identity Proofing

Authentication provisioning and identity proofing are two crucial areas to prevent data abuse. Identity proofing makes sure that only authorized users can access your organisation’s data. This can protect your organization from a wide range of security issues that involve threat actors trying to access, steal or misuse data. It can also mitigate the risk of identity fraud.

Sadly, there is little to no identity proofing or authentication provisioning in a passwordless environment which can work in the attacker’s favour. In order to get over this security issue, you need to practice caution when provisioning users, devices and apps. Make sure you implement strong security controls at the device level and app level to lower the risk even further.

3. Insecure Identity Management

Another issue that most people tend to ignore regarding passwordless authentication is that it can nullify the impact of your identity and access management system. These systems are designed to ensure that only authorized users have access to the right data in the right context.

As mentioned before, insecure identity provisioning and management could lead to identity fraud. In a passwordless setup, weak security protocols are used, which can easily be bypassed by cyberattackers. You cannot outsource your identity and access management system as it can take away control from you and give it to someone else. So, what’s the solution to this problem?

Even if you are planning to go passwordless, it is highly recommended that you adopt multi-factor authentication that leverages strong user authentication methods such as biometric authentication. You can also secure your identity proofing by building trust. App instance binding and device instance binding can also be used to authenticate a device or app through attestation. If that is not enough, you can even opt for zero trust architecture.

4. Misconfiguration and Vulnerabilities

Whether you are using an on-premise DDoS protected dedicated server or have migrated your workloads to the cloud, the poor configuration can come back to haunt you.  In fact, a vast majority of cloud-based attacks leverage these misconfigurations and allow attackers to get their foot into the door. Hackers are actively looking for such weaknesses and don’t waste time when they find one.

These security misconfigurations can come in many different shapes and sizes. It could be found in unencrypted files, unpatched systems, easy to guess passwords, weak firewalls and protocols as well as unprotected devices. The best way to mitigate the risk of these security issues is to conduct a thorough risk assessment combined with continuous patch management and penetration testing.

5. Insider Threat

Did you know that almost one-third of data breaches are caused by malicious insiders? Despite this, most businesses are focused on external threats and ignore internal threats altogether. This can even be a bigger issue when you are in a passwordless environment. Malicious threat actors such as previous employees, third-party vendors and contractors can take advantage of it and gain access to your critical business data.

You can drastically minimize the risk of insider threats by enforcing strong security policies, segmenting your network, implementing multi-factor authentication and adopt a zero-trust model or architecture.

6. Poor Support For Legacy Systems

If you are still stuck with legacy systems, it will be extremely difficult for you to implement passwordless authentication as most of these legacy systems don’t support it. Most legacy systems still use older authentication protocols. Even if these legacy systems support passwordless authentication, it is extremely difficult to implement them on legacy systems.

Instead of replacing your legacy systems with newer ones, you can harness the power of identity and authentication technologies in order to implement passwordless authentication. Thanks to easy to implement standards such as SAML, Auth and OIDC, you can still make it work without fully replacing your legacy systems.

Would you adopt passwordless authentication? If yes, how would you overcome its security challenges? Let us know in the comments section below.