With the holidays and the New Year rapidly approaching, now is the perfect moment to reflect on 2025 and look ahead to 2026. Across Europe, several significant milestones were reached. The year began with the introduction of an electronic health record for all German citizens in January, marking a significant step toward a more efficient, digitalized, and secure healthcare ecosystem. In May, the EU began rolling out implementing acts for the revised eIDAS regulation, defining concrete requirements that, among other things, will harmonize obligations for trust service providers across the Union. Switzerland, meanwhile, secured its own state-issued eID by the narrowest of margins, as just over half of voters approved the proposal in a referendum at the end of September. Finally, Germany passed its national implementation of NIS2 in December, with the legislation expected to enter into force in early 2026. Against this backdrop, we take a look at five trending topics that Swisscom believes will shape the industry in the coming year:
1. Passkeys & password-less authentication
The shift toward passkeys will become one of the most visible identity trends of the coming year, bringing password-less authentication firmly into the mainstream. As more consumer apps, government portals, and enterprise systems adopt passkey-based login, users will begin to experience identity journeys that feel both smoother and more secure. This trend reduces reliance on vulnerable passwords and helps mitigate common attacks such as phishing, credential stuffing, and brute-force attempts. Yet the real impact on digital trust comes from the growing ecosystem around passkey portability – ensuring that users can safely move keys across devices or cloud accounts without becoming locked into a single vendor. Success depends on interoperable standards and clear recovery paths, because trust is shaped not only by security strength but also by how confidently users can regain access when something goes wrong.
2. Digital identity wallets & reusable credentials
Digital identity wallets are accelerating toward global adoption, driven by the need for secure, privacy-preserving ways to verify attributes without revealing unnecessary data. Over the next year, more governments, banks, and private platforms will enable users to store verifiable credentials, such as proof of age, residence, or employment, within portable wallet apps that they control. By summer 2026 at the latest, all EU member states should offer such a digital wallet for their citizens. The potential to increase digital trust is great: organizations can reduce data-handling risks while individuals gain transparency and consent over their identity interactions.
3. Deepfake-resistant biometrics
As deepfake technology becomes more sophisticated, biometric authentication faces new threats that undermine the reliability of facial recognition, voice verification, and other biometric modalities. In 2026, organizations are expected to implement multi-modal systems that combine face, motion, voice, and behavioral signals to ensure a person is both real and present. These enhancements will rely heavily on advanced liveness detection that can identify subtle cues that synthetic media still struggles to mimic, such as nuanced micro-expressions or natural motion irregularities. People need assurance that their biometric data cannot be easily spoofed, and regulators increasingly demand more robust safeguards around collection, storage, and use. While this trend promises stronger protection against impersonation attacks, it will also spark ongoing debate about privacy, proportionality, and how much biometric data an organization should reasonably process to maintain trust.
4. Rising identity threats & continuous assurance
The coming year will likely see identity threats becoming more complex and persistent, as fraudsters exploit generative AI, automation, and new methods for crafting synthetic identities. Traditional static identity checks are no longer sufficient in environments where attackers can fabricate documents, mimic biometrics, or generate compelling personas at scale. In response, organizations are shifting toward continuous identity assurance, evaluating trust signals throughout a user's session rather than just at login. This includes behavioral analytics, device telemetry, risk scoring, and context-rich, real-time anomaly detection. Digital trust will increasingly hinge on an organization's ability to detect subtle, evolving patterns rather than relying solely on fixed credentials or one-time verification. However, this shift raises questions about transparency and fairness: users expect safety, yet they also want clarity about how they are being monitored. The challenge is creating systems that are both robust against fraud and respectful of user rights.
5. Privacy-preserving identity & zero-knowledge technologies
Privacy-enhancing technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs, selective disclosure mechanisms, and secure multiparty computation are set to transition from niche research to practical identity tools in 2026. These technologies enable individuals to prove facts about themselves, like being over a certain age or possessing a valid driver's license, without exposing underlying personal data. As privacy becomes a core expectation rather than a luxury, organizations will adopt these methods to reduce data retention, simplify compliance, and decrease the risk of breaches. Zero-knowledge-based verification is particularly promising because it strengthens trust in digital interactions while lowering exposure for all parties. Yet adoption will require overcoming usability barriers, educating stakeholders, and building infrastructure that can support these cryptographically advanced processes at scale. The broader impact on digital trust will be significant: users will gain confidence that their information is not unnecessarily collected. At the same time, institutions will demonstrate a commitment to privacy-first identity design.
The identity landscape will continue to evolve rapidly in 2026, driven by the convergence of stronger authentication, privacy-preserving technologies, and advanced defense against emerging threats. Together, these trends signal a shift toward user-centric, interoperable, and intelligence-driven identification ecosystems designed to balance convenience, security, and privacy. In the year ahead, organizations that invest early in these capabilities will be better positioned to earn and maintain digital trust. At the same time, those who hesitate may struggle to keep pace with rising threats and user expectations.
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