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Cisco Duo - Essentials Edition

Cisco Systems, Inc.

Reviews from AWS customer

6 AWS reviews

External reviews

460 reviews
from and

External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.


    Mike Krueger

Saves us time, establishes trust, and prevents phishing

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We utilize Duo Security to mitigate phishing and other similar attack vectors in general.

How has it helped my organization?

Our phishing attacks have significantly decreased. The number of compromises is almost nonexistent due to the implementation of Duo Security.

Duo Security's self-service portal has definitely helped us save a couple of hours per month.

Duo Security's ability for establishing trust is great.

What is most valuable?

The anti-phishing feature is the most valuable.

What needs improvement?

Previously, we encountered an issue with utilizing the passcode as part of the second factor; however, that has now been transformed into a feature.

I would appreciate it if Duo Security could improve its integrations with Windows Hello.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Duo Security for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Duo Security is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

After Cisco purchased Duo Security, I was uncertain about its scalability. However, it appears that Cisco has granted them the freedom to pursue their own initiatives and has provided the necessary resources for them to achieve their goals.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is excellent.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment took place five years ago, but during that time, we experienced some growing pains before reaching a satisfactory point.

What about the implementation team?

I was not involved in the implementation, but we did seek external assistance, which proved beneficial.

What was our ROI?

We have observed a return on investment with Duo Security in terms of anti-phishing and breach prevention.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Duo Security a ten out of ten.

We do not use Duo Security for end-to-end detection and remediation of threats.

Duo Security may not be the only solution available, but it is a fantastic choice.


    reviewer2212698

Helps reduce the risk of breaches

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use Duo Security for multi-factor authentication for our VPN.

How has it helped my organization?

We didn't have any MFA previously. Adding that extra layer of security helps.

Duo Security has been pretty good for securing our infrastructure from end to end so that you can detect and remediate threats. We've seen several of our employees leave the country, and we see their connections trying to go through and so forth. We can either add them to allow them access or keep denying that access, and we get alerted to that.

It is pretty good in terms of user authentication and device verification for helping to prevent identity-based attacks. Your device is preauthorized. If somebody steals your device, they still need to know your password. That works out pretty well.

Duo Security helps reduce the risk of breaches. If I had known about it sooner, I'd have got it sooner.

The Self-Service Portal has helped free up our IT staff. Our guys spend a little time, and they can go in and look at how to do things and how to set things up. It makes things a little easier.

Duo Security establishes trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from. We really limit where we cannot be accessed from. It helps to make sure whoever we're letting in is who they're supposed to be.

Duo Security considers all resources to be external. If you treat everything as a threat, you're safer that way.

It has helped our organization improve its cybersecurity resilience.

What is most valuable?

It's a lot easier for our end users to connect to our network. You don't have to type in a code. You get push notifications, that's probably the best thing about it. The fewer clicks they have to do to be online, the better it is. They can easily get into the network and do remote work.

What needs improvement?

I'd like to see it integrated into other applications. I know there are some integrations, but I haven't been able to explore that any further.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Duo Security for about the last 18 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has been awesome. It's been a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I haven't had a deal with that.

How are customer service and support?

That's pretty good, but we didn't have to use them for this product. In general, Cisco support has been excellent. I'd rate them a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't have MFA. This was our first one. We were using open-source VPN software and decided that we needed to add MFA. We didn't want to patch a bunch of different things together. Cisco AnyConnect and MFA together worked out very well. We also had a Cisco Firepower firewall, and we decided that one vendor for all of it would make it much easier. Its price was also very reasonable. It made it easy for us to make that decision.

How was the initial setup?

It was straightforward. For most things that I've dealt with from Cisco, I've had to do a lot of research to find things, but with Duo Security, everything was right there for us.

What about the implementation team?

We did it in-house. It was easy.

What was our ROI?

Less time is spent trying to figure things out with a bunch of different software. By having one vendor, there's not a lot of extra work that our guys have to do to keep maintaining that.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing was very reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

To someone researching this solution who wants to improve cybersecurity in their organization, I'd say that definitely give it a look. It's easy to set up. It was very easy for us to set up. We even had our Cisco team call us and make sure we had everything going. It was almost no effort, so it's worth a try.

I'd rate Duo Security a ten out of ten.


    reviewer2212677

Provides security and flexibility, and comes with great support and at-par licensing

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use Duo Security for multi-factor authentication.

How has it helped my organization?

Duo Security helps with multi-factor authentication. It gives another level of security for authentication and logging devices. It's just more secure.

It does a very good job of securing our infrastructure. It enables us to be more secure and provides another level for our users and admins.

It definitely increases security in our work environment. I've also used it at school for logging into my system there. It's good for both scenarios. It's very user-friendly.

It's very good for user authentication and device verification for helping to prevent identity-based attacks. The only thing would be if you lose your phone or something like that, then it breaks the whole setup, so it has been very successful in that.

Now that it has been implemented, it has freed up our IT staff's time. It has mostly been set up and go. We then forget about it till we have to update it.

It's very good for establishing trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from.

Duo Security considers all resources to be external which is an important aspect because of the way our network is set up. We've remote sites, and everyone at those sites also has the requirement to use Duo Security.

It's another level of the security level mechanism that we have. At this point, the way cybersecurity is going, adding more options that are not very heavy lifting for a user is very important.

What is most valuable?

The flexibility is the most valuable feature. We use it for the app on the phone. When we're at different locations, the phone is usually there, so we can use that. It has just been a very flexible option.

What needs improvement?

For upgrades, there should be a better notification of when they're coming out. We always have a testing phase, so we need to be ahead of it. It takes us longer before we can upgrade to the newest version.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've known Duo Security for four years.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is great. We use them a lot. It depends on what issues we're having, but we always get any service, so I'd rate them a ten out of ten. They're very responsive and very knowledgeable. They're more eager at points to get things figured out than we're ready to, which is good, but we have to step back.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't use any other solution before. Its integration with the rest of our products probably made us go for it.

How was the initial setup?

Its deployment is easy, but getting users bought in and starting to use it could be a bit difficult. That comes with any big change.

What was our ROI?

Our organization has definitely got a good return on investment on it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I haven't seen it in a while, but it's at par with everything else licensing-wise.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I'd rate Duo Security a ten out of ten.


    reviewer2212659

Establishes trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use it for multi-factor authentication. That's the only use case we have now. We're not using it to its maximum capabilities but we'll use it for more functions moving forward.

How has it helped my organization?

Duo Security has improved our cybersecurity resilience. Multi-factor authentication gives us another layer of protection. Having another layer of security is very important for us.

Duo Security establishes trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from. This is something that's absolutely needed.

What is most valuable?

It's easy to deploy. It's easy to manage. It's easy to integrate with other applications.

We also use it for single sign-on with Meraki and VPN access for non-Cisco firewalls, but we're now migrating to Cisco firewalls. It's easy to deploy, and it works.

What needs improvement?

I'm not using it as much as I could. So far, it has everything I need. I don't have any requirements or improvements. Everything is working smoothly, and we're happy with it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Duo Security for about two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Its stability is great.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have 1,500 users that use Duo Security. We're planning to use Duo Security for more applications, but the number of users won't increase anymore, so in terms of scalability, I don't think we'll have any issues.

How are customer service and support?

We have opened some cases with Cisco for questions and things at all, and they were very helpful. They're very good. They answer questions quickly, and the people who work there are knowledgeable, so I can't complain. I'd rate them a ten out of ten because I got prompt responses and knowledgeable people.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using Microsoft Authenticator before, but we had a lot of problems with that, so we had to move away from that. Initially, we didn't have any multi-factor authentication, so having a multi-factor authentication for multiple applications and services that we provide helps us in making our network more secure.

How was the initial setup?

You synchronize your AD with Duo Security and create all the groups for access. You send the emails to do the deployment, and you load the cell phone numbers. That's for the end-user side, and for the firewall, we have the proxies. We're using a proxy for one of the products. Our firewall sends RADIUS requests to the proxy, and the proxy communicates to Duo Cloud. The virtual machine deployment for the process was very easy. The configuration takes a few steps, but it's easy.

We've both on-premise and cloud deployments. We're using the tool on the cloud, but we don't have any infrastructure on the cloud.

What about the implementation team?

We did the deployment ourselves.

What was our ROI?

We have seen an ROI. The cost of not having it means you're vulnerable to hacking and other things. Nowadays, multi-factor authentication is required for insurance. It's a must now.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's very simple. Its price is fair. We use the hardware tokens as well. You get what you pay for.

In terms of licensing, Cisco has very complicated products, but Duo Security was surprisingly easy. The licensing model is easy. The license is based on the intent. You can see how many licenses you have. It's one of the easiest solutions I have deployed, so I'm very happy about it. Every other Cisco product—such as switches, APs, wireless, and controllers—has a very complicated license model. The new smart license model doesn't always work. It's very complicated. The vendors will put your license somewhere else. You need to talk to vendors. It's complicated, but Duo Security licensing is simple.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated RSA, Microsoft, and Duo Security. We evaluated these three, and we realized that Duo Security had better reviews, and it was easier to deploy and cost-effective, so it made sense to use it.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I'd rate Duo Security a ten out of ten.


    John Desgarennes

Reduces the risk of breaches and is helpful for 2FA for our portal

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use it for two-factor authentication (2FA) for accessing our portal.

How has it helped my organization?

From a security standpoint, 2FA is very crucial, and having a multitude of ways for consumers in your property to utilize 2FA is helpful.

Duo Security has its place in securing our infrastructure. It's great for that, but not for securing our infrastructure end to end because there's no such thing as an end-to-end cure for all the security.

It is great for reducing the risk of breaches. Having 2FA and making it simple for users, it reduces the risk of getting phished or scammed.

Duo Security considers all resources to be external, which is a good idea because everything is done in a completely untrusted model. It's absolutely important for us.

Our cybersecurity resilience has improved in one way. We were successfully able to deploy it to a base system. It's uniform across the whole property, and everyone is using it.

What is most valuable?

It's simple. It's reliable. I haven't had any issues with it.

What needs improvement?

It's fairly simple. Our end users don't have many issues with it other than getting locked out for administrative purposes, but it's not something to do with Duo Security. There might be a little slowness, but that could be my connection.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution in our company for about two years. I have been with the company since we started using it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I haven't had any problems. In a worst-case scenario, there might be a little slowness, but that could be my connection. They're pretty proactive when they do have issues. I get alerts right away saying that Duo Security is having problems, and they are being looked into.

How are customer service and support?

Their support is okay. They always respond. Sometimes you get really good engineers, and sometimes you don't, but at least they're there. I'd rate them a seven out of them.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We had a few other systems. It was piecemeal. We were trying Okta at one point. We were doing demos of the products trying to find the right one. I've limited experience with them, but our security team did a full evaluation. A few times, I've seen demos, which was a while ago, they all seem to be pretty close. It's pretty tough out there. We might have been roped into Duo Security with some other deal that we did with Cisco.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in its deployment. Our security team does most of the deployment factor on that. I do remember the provisioning process, and it seemed pretty painless. We have about 5,000 employees, and I'm sure getting the education to the users about what we're doing would have been an effort, but overall, it was pretty easy.

In terms of deployment, it's on the cloud. It's probably a hybrid cloud, but I'm not sure.

What was our ROI?

There's definitely a return on investment because one compromise can cost billions of dollars.

What other advice do I have?

I'd rate Duo Security a nine out of ten. I haven't had any problems. It's great.


    Sayantan Chatterjee

Is effective at preventing identity-based attacks and has an easy setup

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We actually partner with Duo Security. We use the API to send a step-up on your phone for granting access to normal doors. You can tap your physical fob card or any other device at the door, and then receive a push notification. Depending on the success or failure of the authentication, we can either grant or reject access at the door. So it provides two-factor authentication. We use Duo for that purpose, as well as for an API and our internal VPN.

However, with our product, we use Duo Security end-to-end. Duo Security has a blind spot when it comes to physical security. It doesn't cover scenarios where someone gains physical access to our network room, which involves different technologies outside of its scope.

From my perspective, it can't be considered truly end-to-end in that regard. Nonetheless, Duo Security offers significant value for network security and VPN access. If we combine our product with Duo Security, then we can achieve comprehensive end-to-end security.

How has it helped my organization?

We work for businesses, B2B. So we work in the data center space. A lot of our work focuses on providing the best authentication at your access points, be it a door or a data center cabinet.

We can integrate our device without requiring you to replace your card, so we can put our device in. You can keep your card. You don't have to replace it. You can simply tap your card, even if it's in your wallet or for home use. The process remains the same. I tap my card, receive a push notification on my phone, and then press enter to gain access. It's great because it ensures that it's actually me and not someone who found my card.

The product has helped our organization by providing easy-to-set-up security. Additionally, through our partnership, we can offer a use case that adds value to our customers. They don't have to deal with the hassle of replacing their existing systems; instead, they can extend their investment in Duo Security and apply it to their access points. This makes it easier for us to deliver value to our customers.

Having that second-factor validation with Duo, or any multifactor authentication solution, is highly important. There are numerous options available in the market. Whether it's Duo or others, the key is to have that additional layer of security. In our organization, we utilize Duo Security across various use cases, which makes perfect sense.

What is most valuable?

With Duo Security, it is easy to get that validation you need to make sure that you have security. It's very easy to set it up. It's simple, but it's secure. For me, that's the best part.

Integration for a partner is very useful because you can work with the API or admin API, whatever it is, and get a lot of logging details and pass them to your SIM. It's very useful for that.

Duo Security provides a high level of certainty regarding the identity of the individual performing an action. Whether it's logging into a system, using VPN, or utilizing Autopay, establishing that trust is crucial. I can't imagine any security company, organization, or IT team that wouldn't prioritize having multifactor authentication enabled when accessing critical systems.

Duo's user authentication and device verification are indeed effective in preventing identity-based attacks. The second factor authentication and clarification it provides are valuable. While there are certain situations where we might desire additional data from the API, I consider that to be a minor aspect.

What needs improvement?

I have a few suggestions for improving Duo Security. One major aspect would be the ability to gather contextual data. This means being able to determine the location where someone is authenticating from and whether it aligns with their regular location patterns. While two-factor authentication with mobile devices provides a high level of security, it's still not foolproof, as someone could potentially steal your phone. It would be beneficial to have information about the authentication location.

If a partner could obtain that data, we could implement it, or if we had our own application, we could incorporate this feature. Additionally, having the ability to customize aspects of the API or the app's appearance would be useful. For example, if you're using Duo for both VPN access and authentication, you might want a different user interface for each scenario. This way, you can easily identify if someone is impersonating you at the door or accessing your computer. These are some suggestions to enhance the functionality of Duo Security.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Duo Security for a few years. We've used Duo Security for all two-factor authentication.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Duo Security is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. From what we've seen, it's pretty scalable. It's really good. In terms of when you get an API response, I don't have to keep pulling that endpoint; I just get a response back, which is better than some of the other ones that exist.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We actually have our own application that we can utilize as well. However, Duo is the prevalent one we use. As a security company, we've conducted tests on various options like Okta Verify and Duo, alongside our own solution. In the end, we opted for Duo. The decision was based on its ease of use.

How was the initial setup?

Implementing Duo Security was actually quite easy. Depending on other factors involved, it could potentially be even easier. The integration process mainly requires three values: the client ID, the secret, and the integration key. It is enough to do.

However, for layman customers, it might be easier to set it up in a different way, such as a one-click setup, to further simplify the process. This is something we can discuss and collaborate on as partners. Overall, though, the setup of Duo Security is easy to set up.

What other advice do I have?

Duo Security's add-in value lies in its access security for establishing trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from.

However, when I say "no matter where it comes from," it's not just about computer logins or VPNs; physical access requests are equally important. It covers both cybersecurity and physical security aspects. While Duo Security adds value to both areas, it's worth noting that it doesn't fully cover the physical security aspect, which is the focus of our integration. However, in terms of digital security, it is indeed effective.

Now, if someone is considering getting Duo Security, my recommendation would depend on their specific needs and reasons for wanting it. However, if their goal is to implement multifactor authentication, then absolutely, they should go for it.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.


    reviewer2212641

An easy-to-use and easy-to-deploy product that enhances security and gives insight into policy violations

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use Duo Security for 2FA during logins.

What is most valuable?

We needed 2FA for compliance. We already used Cisco across the board, so it made sense to use the product. We benefit from using the solution. We were unaware that some users were sharing logins and doing some things that went against policies. Once we had Duo Security in place, we realized that codes were not going where they needed to, and we could sort that out. The solution is easy to use.

What needs improvement?

We have some users that don't prefer to use the app. The product could be more intuitive on the app. We have users that are a little dated in their technology adoption. Telling some of our non-intuitive users to use the app was a little struggle.

For how long have I used the solution?

We implemented the solution about a year ago.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't had any issues with the solution’s stability at all. We've had no issues with it not being compatible anywhere.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We're a pretty small shop. We have less than 100 employees, so scalability is not a huge concern because there's not a lot of growth right now. However, bundling and provisioning the tool with any device is pretty easy.

How are customer service and support?

Support is good. We've had a couple of issues with the tool, and anytime we needed anything answered, we've got it resolved. Everything's been quick and reasonable. We generally expect to get answers the same day we have the problem, although it is not possible.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

To my knowledge, we didn't have any issues in the rollout. We tried to phase it out over the course of a few weeks. Once we got a few of them tested, we went to the next phase. Then, we decided to go 100% with it because we saw no problems doing a stack of implementation. It was pretty good.

What was our ROI?

My organization sees an ROI on the product. If there's any attempt at a breach, then we're confident that it will be stopped.

What other advice do I have?

The solution is deployed on the cloud. We're pretty sure it's on our end with the telephone system. We have set up automated phone calls to the desk phones, and sometimes they don't go through or are delayed. However, we've been looking through it and are pretty sure it’s on our telephone system.

I rate the product a seven out of ten in securing our infrastructure from end to end. It's pretty straightforward for people that have done 2FA before, but we have a lot of users that haven't. We have to do a little convincing to get them to do the additional step.

We have saved time by using the tool so that we can dedicate our time to other valuable projects. The tool’s Self-Service Portal helped us with uptime. The solution is good at establishing trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from.

We have policies for our machines and for our phones. The solution really opened our eyes to what people needed to do on their phones and what they were actually bringing to the building.

Duo Security absolutely helped our organization improve its cybersecurity resilience. Our employee and guest network are separated. However, people were bringing their personal devices and doing work-related things on them that we weren't aware of. The solution allowed us to see a little bit more of what was going on at the user level.

Duo Security was the first implementation in our organization. We did not use similar solutions before. Choosing the solution was a pretty quick process. Duo Security was the first one that we demoed. We didn't have any issues, so we went right with it. We chose it because of its ease of use and implementation. We were able to roll it out fairly quickly, so there was no reason to look elsewhere.

We had some partner companies and sister companies that were starting to have breaches. They told us that if we had 2FA, it wouldn't have been a problem.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.


    Sharon March

An easy-to-install multi-factor authentication platform that offers speed and dependability at the same time

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

You don't need any other Cisco security products in order to use it. That's what makes it easy.

Normally, people use it for multi-factor authentication. It's an easy-to-install multi-factor authentication platform.

What is most valuable?

Regarding the valuable features, I would say that Duo Security is easy to use, has speed, and is dependable.

What needs improvement?

It would be nice if there was a biometric option rather where you could accept with a fingerprint. Like, in an iPhone, they have fingerprint authentication and face ID. It would be nice if there was a biometric acceptance as opposed to just clicking and accepting.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Duo Security for thirteen years. I am a distributor of the solution.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Regarding stability, I don't know if that comes into question. With my clients, I haven't seen them facing stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have seen it deployed in an organization with 50 people and another with 5,000 people.

How are customer service and support?

I love the solution's technical support. Regarding the adjectives I would use to describe the support, I would say that the support was professional and accommodating. I wish that the support would be a little bit more prompt and a little bit more flexible because there are certain things that they will do and certain things they won't do. Then they push what they won't do back down to the distributor.

I also wish that they consider us as distributors because we're not the traditional partner. It's almost like we are Cisco. I wish that we could share more resources behind Cisco Firewall and behind Cisco's resources. I rate the support an eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The reason we chose Duo Security over its competitors is because it's a freebie that you can try and see how it goes. There is also the ease of integration with Duo Security. I don't really know of any other MFA that is as simple. With Duo Security, it's like, here's your authorization, and you need to click on the yes or no options.

What other advice do I have?

I would say that the solution does increase security because it does require MFA, and as long as the company enforces it installed on a specific device, it works.

It does not secure my infrastructure from end to end and detect or remediate threats. It's not the function of the product.

Regarding my assessment of Duo Security for establishing trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from, I would say that it is absolutely dependent on how the company deploys it. If the company says just deploy Duo Security on an old device, then it's kind of a hope.

The whole point of having Duo Security is that it considers all resources to be external.

Multi-factor authentication in general helped my organization improve its cybersecurity resilience. Any MFA will do that.

I would tell those considering having Duo Security in their organization that it's easy. You don't need to have every other Cisco product out there since I know that, for a fact, you can do it with Sophos and Fortinet. You can do it with other products, not just Cisco.

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.


    Ricardo Simonis

Provides two-factor authentication, which adds an additional layer of security and easy user adaptation

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

We use it citywide. I work for a city, local government, and we implemented it during the pandemic.

We support it for remote access to our network. Every city employee is required to use it, including the police and fire departments. However, it's hard to concretely say if the solution has helped reduce the risk of breaches in one way or another.
Apart from that, we focus on user education in cybersecurity and provide training to our end-user population to heighten awareness. This is in addition to the two-factor authentication, so we don't solely rely on that.


How has it helped my organization?

Duo Security has improved our organization from a security standpoint. The two-factor authentication has become a requirement in most cases. It is specifically required by cybersecurity insurance.

Not only are we doing it for requirement purposes, but it also gives us an additional layer of confidence. Duo Security's additional layer of security gives us added confidence that our network will be less likely to get hacked, compromised, or otherwise.

Moreover, we're very satisfied with the solution for helping secure our infrastructure from end to end. It definitely gives us an added layer of our confidence knowing that two-factor authentication is implemented. In our organization, network-wise, the confidence level is fairly high, and we're happy with it.

The way we involve the end users is with their mobile devices and mobile phone numbers. Once they do get involved, we are pretty confident that they are being reached out to through the number that we have in the system for them, and there's really no reason on our end to doubt the validity of those authentication requests when they come through. We trust Duo Security for every access request, no matter where it comes from.

Duo Security has become essential to our environment, considering today's time when our workforce is becoming more and more mobile.

Duo Security helped our organization improve its cybersecurity resilience. It has given that added layer of security and keeps the awareness on the user's end as well.

What is most valuable?

It's easy to use, frankly. All it takes really is for the end user to download the app. For me, I have an Apple Watch; I don't even have to wait for my phone. I can accept the prompt right there and just be on my way.

Moreover, we are comfortable and have high confidence in the solution's user authentication; device verification can prevent identity-based attacks.

What needs improvement?

One of the challenges was for the police force. A lot of them, at first, weren't keen on using their personal cell phone for, quote-unquote, city business. As a city, we require them to download an app for two-factor authentication. There is a little bit of apprehension for some users thinking, well, "How do I know this app is not collecting personal information from my personal device?" was the only obstacle we ran into. Overall, satisfaction is good.

To mitigate this problem, there was an option where the city would choose to just go with utilizing the app. There's another option where you can get a text message as opposed to having to download the app and accept what the app has on it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Duo Security for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Duo Security is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We never encountered any issues in terms of scalability.

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and support have been very good. We haven't had to call them many times. They've been able to assist every time there was an issue.

The responses have always been timely, and I haven't gotten any complaints from our security manager.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used a different solution but had it in limited use only for our public safety team. That was a requirement at the time because of the type of information that they had access to. We were looking for something versatile.

With Duo Security, the easier user access and user adaption were a little easier. We felt the solution was a little clunky at times, and we are already in the Cisco ecosystem, and that's one of their products. So we decided that was the best solution at the time. That's why we switched to Duo Security.

How was the initial setup?

Implementation was fairly easy. Moreover, once you have it implemented, it's very minimal.

Duo Security doesn't require a lot of maintenance. From that standpoint, the solution has freed up time. However, it's not something that we had beforehand. In other words, it's not necessarily alleviating work. However, it is easy to manage.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing was a lot more than what we were paying for our previous solution. However, our previous solution only covered two out of the sixteen departments within the city.

It’s a bit of a pie chart in that sense but we understood that with Duo Security, we were deploying it on a broader scale.

Overall, the pricing was higher than our expectations, but considering the circumstances during the pandemic and the increased demand, we understood the importance of making the right decision and moving forward with the best product.

I would say we are happy with it. However, I haven't conducted any recent market surveys to compare pricing, so it's difficult to make a definitive statement. Ultimately, what matters most is the satisfaction of our end users, and in that regard, it is currently very high.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did look at some other products. We had a security manager who was responsible for conducting the necessary research and legwork. However, he did present us with a few different solutions, and our network manager was also involved in exploring options. Ultimately, Duo Security was selected as the preferred solution.

And also, what happened right before then, we had attended Cisco Live, had been exposed to Cisco Duo, and really liked what we saw. So we went into it with a bit of bias, to be honest, because we already saw it.

What other advice do I have?

Duo Security is a great solution. The adoption and learning curve for the end user is low, in our opinion.

Overall, I would rate Duo Security an eight out of ten.


    Kevin OShields

A multi-factor authentication offering a good dashboard while being reasonably priced

  • June 15, 2023
  • Review provided by PeerSpot

What is our primary use case?

Our general use cases are for multi-factor authentication for our networking and data center environment devices. We also do some SAML for our network monitoring tools with our different partners in our environment. With SAML, we use it for RADIUS and TACACS authentication.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution has definitely made our administrative access and privileged access to our data center architecture more secure by using multi-factor authentication. It's no longer just a password. You need to have Duo Push. It also helps the security team keep track of when people log in a lot easier, and you can just go to Duo Security to do that. The multi-factor aspect for us was the big reason why we chose Duo. We are Cisco, and it's integrated with Duo Security.

What is most valuable?

The administrator tool in the dashboard is the most valuable feature. It's really easy to quickly see if users are locked out from their device, firmware code, or just all the little dashboards and reports I can run to give the security for monthly reports. The dashboard's really good.

What needs improvement?

The pain point for us at one point was the Duo Authentication Proxy since we're on-premises and not in the cloud. We had to have a proxy machine that's in our DMZ to talk to Duo for us. The configuration of that was a little complicated.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Duo Security in my organization's environment for eighteen months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I never faced any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I never faced any scalability issues.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support has been great. The only times I've ever had to call them was when I had to deal with Duo Authentication Proxy, and they were very helpful. They would go through your config and help you figure out any little pain points you're dealing with as far as integrating those different protocols, but they were fine every time I had a call. I rate the support a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

Regarding implementation, it was a really quick project. I think we did PoC to the final rollout in six weeks. Duo Security is very integrated with other security and Cisco products, it took us around six weeks, and we had the solution up and running along with multi-factor authentication for all privileged access users in our environment. Previously, we just had a username and password. It was a big win for us.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Price-wise, the solution has been very, very reasonable, especially since I like that you can scale, and they work really well if you need to expand quickly or retract. We haven't had any problems. Licensing is the last thing I think about regarding Duo Security because it's so easy, and I had no problems with it.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

During our evaluation phase, we looked at Okta. For privileged access and for our authentication protocols like RADIUS and TACACS, Okta didn't have that functionality. They did SAML, so you could secure web apps or SaaS platforms or anything like that, but not our internal data center networking infrastructure. Duo Security was the only one that really had that capability. It was a really quick process. It's been great ever since.

What other advice do I have?

It is a very powerful tool when it comes to securing infrastructure from end to end. It makes authentications seamless for the users, and it's very well integrated with, like, Cisco ISE. It's not hard to maintain, and that was the biggest bonus. You don't want pain points for your users. Integration and the solution's seamlessness were the two big points.

Regarding my impressions of Duo Security's ability to help reduce risks and breaches, I would say that it is very high. The biggest pushing risk for us is insider threats, so mitigation requiring multi-factor authentication for privileged access reduces that threat surface. Duo Security was a really quick and really easy way to get a really quick win on that.

Duo Security's user authentication and device verification for helping to prevent and identify attacks is pretty good, especially for profiling the devices and for devices that have Duo's app in them. It helps us to understand the users of Duo about which firmware is running and whether they're possibly running firmware that could have some vulnerabilities. It's all in the dashboard. It's very easy to make reports and see them. It really helps people who use Duo, and they have their endpoint in there. It really helps us see a lot about their device.

It helps us save money and time, especially for identify privileged access users who are having problems logging into devices. We get it to automatically alert us, so we can be proactive about finding out what the issue is because if you see a lot of repeated attempts to log in to something, then you see that in Duo, it will email us, and then we can go to just investigate and remediate the issue. It's usually somebody with a bad password, trying to put it in many times, but you never can be sure. So it really helps us be proactive in the aforementioned situations.

Regarding my assessment of Duo Security for establishing trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from, I would say that it does pretty well. So, I don't know if I can talk more about this because we really only have certain avenues into privileged access devices, so I really can't say if it is from anywhere.

It is very important for me that Duo Security considers all resources to be external, especially from a principal security standpoint. It's a great posture to have, and I think that having that kind of posture is good for your security just inside your own network if you treat everything as external. They speak the same language security-wise that we look for in our organization.

Duo Security has helped improve my company's cybersecurity resilience, considering that in our limited scope of where we use it, we are more resilient because of those formation things where we learn about issues proactively, and then we can actually mitigate them, and the report shows trends. So if we see trends, we can see what we mitigated, and we can look at those trends and see if there's a more focused approach than maybe a more long-term thing we need to look at or a bigger change we need to look at. I would say it's helpful from that point.

I would tell those planning to use the solution that Duo Security is a seamless and really transparent solution for its users, and it's very integrated into one's existing systems. Ease of implementation is for somebody who has to engineer a solution and implement it. The ease of implementation is one of the top five things. It's the ease of implementation and it's the integration in your existing systems that really sells Due Security for me.

I rate the overall product a ten out of ten.