The Long Road to Going Passwordless

Thales' Guido Gerrits Says Passwordless Is a Journey Anna Delaney (annamadeline) • March 11, 2026

Passwords should have disappeared a decade ago. They haven't. Legacy systems, fragmented IT infrastructures and the complexity of modern hybrid environments have kept them alive and kept organizations vulnerable, said Guido Gerrits, vice president of identity and access management for Europe at Thales.

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"Passwordless is not a product that you can implement. Passwordless is a journey," Gerrits said. "For organizations to move to a passwordless solution, it takes at least two years in reality."

Availability has overtaken confidentiality as the top digital sovereignty concern. Security leaders managing identity across cloud, SaaS and on-premises environments must satisfy two competing demands: Regulators want clean audit trails, and employees want seamless access, he said.

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at the Gartner Identity ...