Passkey authentication method enabled

Overview

When passkey authentication isn’t enabled in Microsoft Entra ID, organizations rely on password-based authentication methods that are vulnerable to phishing, credential theft, and replay attacks. Attackers can use stolen passwords to gain initial access, bypass traditional multifactor authentication through Adversary-in-the-Middle (AiTM) attacks, and establish persistent access through token theft.

Passkeys provide phishing-resistant authentication using cryptographic proof that attackers can’t phish, intercept, or replay. Enabling passkeys eliminates the foundational vulnerability that enables credential-based attack chains.

Remediation

• Learn how to enable the passkey authentication method.
• Learn how to plan a phishing-resistant passwordless authentication deployment.

Run it

The check runs as part of the whole assessment, with the ZeroTrustAssessment module installed:

Install-Module ZeroTrustAssessment -Scope CurrentUser
Connect-Maester
Invoke-Maester -Pack ZTA -SkipBuiltIn

Leave out -SkipBuiltIn to run Maester’s own checks in the same run.

About this check

Severity	Low
Effort to fix	Low
Impact on users	Low
Pillar	Identity
Category	Access control
Product	Entra ID
Feature	Authentication methods
Area	Authentication
ATT&CK	T1566.002 Spearphishing Link, T1557 Adversary-in-the-Middle, T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie
Licence	Free
Tenant	Workforce, External

Product, feature, area and ATT&CK are Maester’s: the assessment does not record them, so Maester keeps them in the pack’s taxonomy.json.

A Microsoft check, part of the Zero Trust Assessment pack. Text from ZeroTrustAssessment 3.1.0, © Microsoft, MIT licence.