Identity Security in 2026: Passkeys, MFA, and Session Hijacking

Identity is the perimeter. Attackers steal sessions, bypass legacy MFA, and abuse SSO trust. Building identity security in 2026 means combining phishing-resistant authentication with continuous checks on devices and sessions—not only a login prompt.

Passkeys and WebAuthn

Passkeys (built on FIDO2 / WebAuthn) bind credentials to devices and domains, which dramatically reduces phishing success compared to one-time codes sent to email or SMS. Prioritize passkeys for administrators, finance, and engineering roles first; expand org-wide as tooling matures.

MFA Is Not a Single Switch

Not all MFA is equal. SMS and voice remain weak against SIM swap and social engineering. Prefer app-based TOTP where passkeys are not yet viable, and move high-risk users to hardware-backed factors.

Session Security

Stolen refresh tokens and browser cookies bypass MFA at login time. Shorten session lifetimes, enforce re-authentication for sensitive actions, monitor for impossible travel, and instrument token theft detection where your IdP supports it.

Device Trust

Identity proof should consider device posture: patched OS, disk encryption, and compliance signals from MDM or EDR. A valid credential on an unmanaged device is a common path to breach.

Conclusion

Treat identity as a lifecycle: enroll with strong factors, bind sessions to risk, and revoke fast when signals change. Passkeys and modern session hygiene are how you keep accounts from becoming the attacker’s home base.