Portnox Survey Reveals CISOs Race Toward Passwordless Future as Trust in MFA Plummets

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Portnox, a leader in cloud-native zero trust access control and cybersecurity solutions, today released the first set of findings from its latest survey, "CISO Perspectives for 2026." The survey, which polled 200 CISOs from companies with revenues exceeding $500 million, was conducted by Wakefield Research.

"We are thrilled to partner with Portnox on this unique research because it provides invaluable data for the cybersecurity community," said Nathan Richter, Senior Partner, Wakefield Research. "By zeroing in on the critical leadership tier of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) year after year, we can clearly chart the evolution of this role—from shifting concerns and budget priorities to the practical adoption of frameworks and technologies like zero trust. This unique, longitudinal view from the top offers security professionals a crucial, evolving benchmark that's simply not available anywhere else."

The results highlight a rapid shift in strategic priorities in terms of the approach CISOs are taking towards passwords over the past year:

• Passwordless Momentum Hits Critical Mass: A significant 92% of CISOs report their organizations have implemented, are implementing, or are planning to implement passwordless authentication. This is a dramatic increase from just 70% in 2024, moving passwordless from a nice-to-have to the standard. Over the past year, the number who've completed their implementation doubled from 7% to 14% and the number planned to implement has jumped from 38% to 52%. 
• Distrust of MFA: Nearly all CISOs express major concerns about MFA's efficacy; 96% say MFA cannot keep pace with evolving threats, and 98% worry it doesn't sufficiently protect employees (on par with 99% in 2024). This widespread concern is justified, as 58% of CISOs believe high-profile security breaches are very or extremely likely due to compromised passwords or authentication.
• A Win for Employee Experience: The shift to passwordless is being driven in part by employee feedback. CISOs cite improved employee productivity (41%) and enhanced user experience (39%) as top benefits. This is a welcome change for staff, with 50% of CISOs reporting employee complaints that security measures interfere with or slow their work.

"MFA, while better than nothing, is a threat mitigation tool. By removing passwords entirely, passwordless authentication reduces the attack surface for cybercriminals and eliminates the risks associated with phishing, credential stuffing, and brute-force attacks," said Denny LeCompte, CEO of Portnox. "In addition, Passwordless provides a better user experience and aligns the most secure path with the path of least resistance for users."

With two in five CISOs (40%) having already begun or completed their passwordless implementation, and a completion rate that has doubled from 2024 to 2025, the trend toward a passwordless future is undeniable.

View the survey results here: portnox.com/ciso-perspectives/data-2026.

Related:

• Oct. 2024 PR: Portnox Survey Reveals CISO's Surprising Views on Job Security, Zero Trust, Multi-Factor Authentication, and More

About Portnox
Portnox delivers cloud-native zero trust access control and cybersecurity solutions that enable IT teams to proactively enforce powerful access control and endpoint risk monitoring and compliance policies. By eliminating the on-premises footprint of traditional access control systems, Portnox allows companies of any size or architecture to deploy, scale, enforce and maintain critical security policies with unprecedented ease. Hundreds of mid-market and enterprise companies leverage Portnox's award-winning unified access control platform to strengthen their organizational security posture.

SOURCE Portnox