Passwordless Authentication in Modern Cybersecurity: Cryptographic Foundations, Zero Trust Architectures, and Future Directions

This report presents a comprehensive review of passwordless authentication as an emerging cybersecurity paradigm. It examines cryptographic foundations, Zero Trust architectures, Privileged Access Management, context-aware authentication, implementation challenges, and future research directions. The study synthesizes current academic literature, industry standards, and real-world applications to evaluate how passwordless authentication strengthens digital identity, improves organizational security, and enhances resilience against modern cyber threats.