Passwords to Passkeys: Staying ISO 27001 Compliant in a Passwordless Era

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Just when I thought the universe couldn’t shit out another compliance headache, here we are: the great password-to-passkey migration. Some overpaid consultant at your company probably read a blog post and now expects you to wave a magic wand and make 20 years of password-protected infrastructure vanish overnight while staying “ISO 27001 compliant.” Brilliant.

Let’s cut through the bullshit, shall we? Passwords are a dumpster fire. They’re reused, weak, written on sticky notes, and cost companies a fortune in help desk tickets from idiots who can’t remember whether their cat’s birthday had an exclamation point at the end. ISO 27001’s control A.9.4.2 demands strong authentication, but the standard hasn’t been updated since before some of you were born, so it still talks about passwords like they’re the pinnacle of security engineering.

Enter passkeys—the FIDO-based, phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication that actually works. No memorization, no credential stuffing, no “Password123!” nonsense. They’re cryptographically secure, bound to devices, and about as phishable as a brick. In short: they’re what passwords wish they could be when they grow up and stop being such a pathetic liability.

But here’s where the compliance stormtroopers start hyperventilating into their clipboards. “But the standard doesn’t explicitly mention passkeys!” they wail. No shit, Sherlock. Standards move slower than a tape backup on a Monday morning. The trick is to interpret the existing controls with the flexibility of a yoga instructor on amphetamines.

ISO 27002—the guidance document, not the prescription—talks about multi-factor authentication and strong cryptographic controls. Passkeys check those boxes harder than a desperate auditor trying to justify their existence. You document a risk assessment showing passkeys meet the intent of A.9.4.2, update your policies to reflect reality, and tell the certification body to stop being such pedantic wankers.

Technical implementation? You need proper key management, secure device enrollment, and backup authentication methods for when someone inevitably loses their phone in a toilet. Train your users so they don’t panic when they see “Sign in with a passkey” and start sacrificing chickens to the IT gods. And for the love of all that’s holy, keep your incident response plan updated because shit still happens, just differently.

The bottom line: ISO 27001 compliance isn’t about slavishly following outdated text—it’s about demonstrating you understand risks and have implemented appropriate controls. Passkeys are more secure than passwords. Period. Document your reasoning, implement properly, and when the auditor quibbles, show them the cryptographic math and ask if they’d like their credentials phished as a demonstration.

The standard will catch up eventually. Probably around the time we’re authenticating with brain implants. Until then, stop waiting for permission and start fixing your authentication before some ransomware gang turns your network into their personal playground.

Read the full article here: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/passwords-to-passkeys-staying-iso-27001-compliant-in-a-passwordless-era/

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Related anecdote: Last week, some middle manager demanded we delay passkey rollout for six months to “align with the ISO audit cycle.” I suggested we instead delay his network access until he could recite the entire standard from memory. Strangely, he suddenly found the risk assessment documentation perfectly adequate. Funny how that works.

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