What is our primary use case?
The main use cases for Cisco Duo are for people who don't have a multi-factor authenticator. This is concerning because when you work in IT, you assume you are talking to technical people. Sometimes they are a director of the IT department, and when I ask them, "What do you have for an MFA?" they respond, "We don't." So I say, "Okay, let's talk about Cisco Duo and how you can implement it in order to secure your organization." That's the main case.
We place Cisco Duo Identity Intelligence with the customers against Shadow IT because sometimes we have the feeling that the customers have a lot of platforms. They have thousands of accounts they are using. In general, customers are using around 100 SaaS applications in a company, and sometimes they don't really know what they have. Sometimes, some workers are not there anymore, and it's possible that they can lose track of who is still in the company and who is not. That's why with Cisco Duo Identity Intelligence, I am able to provide a complete overview of what they have. Now they can check who is still using the system. It's good against Shadow IT, but it's also good if you are paying for an app and you don't use it anymore. You can cancel the subscription and get some money back.
What is most valuable?
What is good with Cisco Duo is I have to explain that it's not just an MFA because some customers already have an MFA in place. I can talk about other products from Microsoft or any other product, and they say, "We already have an MFA." So I have to explain to them that Cisco Duo is not just an MFA. With an MFA, you want to access something, and the MFA is going to check if you can enter, yes or no. It's not going to check your background or what you have. Cisco Duo is a pre-MFA and post-MFA. With Cisco Duo it's checking if you are allowed to submit a request to access this. If your company is just working with Windows and you are trying to access with a Mac, Cisco Duo is going to be able to say, "Why are you working with a Mac? It's not allowed," so you're not going to have a request. Or if you are, for example, working in Germany and you only have workers in Germany, and suddenly your IP address is in Spain, then I can explain to the customer, "Okay." The customer might say, "Okay, I have a request from Spain, but we don't have people working in Spain, even remotely. So we will block it directly." That's the good thing. It's comparable to when you want to go to a nightclub, they ask you if you are 18, but they also check it with your ID card and everything. It's the same with Cisco Duo. They do a complete check of you before you access.
What needs improvement?
I have not implemented Cisco Duo's end-to-end phishing-resistant capabilities such as proximity verification.
I have not deployed Cisco Duo Directory to manage the user identities, not yet, because since a lot of customers already have their own directories, it was not necessary with Cisco Duo. We still talk about it, but it was not necessary as of right now.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Duo for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would assess the stability and reliability of Cisco Duo as good. I have nothing to say. It's never had downtime, nothing. Cisco Duo cannot see your password. It's just sending the request. At no point in time does it see or save your password. That's also the good thing. And it's working with everything, and it's native on Linux. This means with some other products, I can get Linux to work, but I have to do some tricks. With Cisco Duo, it's already in. So if I have a server with Linux, it's perfect.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I think Cisco Duo is scalable in a growing company and it works well. It's very scalable. I can add users, and as far as I remember, if I cross the line with the users, I will get a notification stating, "You need to upgrade," but it's not blocked. This means it's not that I add one user and now everything is locked. I have a lot of leeway. I can improve, and I will have a notification and still have time to pay more. Regarding the scalability, I just add one new customer, and after I upgrade my license directly from the dashboard as an admin, that's it. There's nothing else to do.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I had something before Cisco Duo. It was a Windows MFA. I don't know the name. A Windows solution. But once again, the Windows solution is like, "Can you go in, or not? Is it you?" "But where are you? And is it really you?" That's the problem.
How was the initial setup?
The experience of the deployment with Cisco Duo is pretty rough. The software itself is good. The software itself is not the problem. The problem with customers is I have to change their habits. There are some people who don't want an MFA on their phone. It's easy for people who have a company phone and people who have a private phone. In some companies, they just have a private phone; they don't have a company phone. Since it's not always GDPR-friendly, with an MFA I can still send some information. Some people don't want to do it. I think it's rough in the sense that I have to educate the customers to use it and install it, because some people don't want to install it. Or if they really don't want an app, I still have the possibility to buy keys or to install a token on a USB key. But the deployment with the software itself is good. It's more about doing the education for the customers.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with Cisco Duo. The good thing is the MFA is free. I can use it. I have Cisco Duo on my phone for free, so everybody can use and install it, up to 10 users. So it's good. I can start with this. The return on investment is that I present the product, and the customer, even if he doesn't click immediately about the features, after that, he will just log himself into the panel and see, "Oh, there's this. I would like to try this feature." So he will upgrade your service because as soon as he discovers new functionalities and thinks it is cool, then he will buy it. The return on investment is very nice.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I did not really consider another solution before selecting Cisco Duo.
What other advice do I have?
I haven't noticed an increase in phishing attacks lately. We do have some in our company. We saw an improvement. I think it's always the same as before, but now it's more improved. It's comparable to the following scenario: "We are the police and you did access a website you were not supposed to. This is the company headquarters. Please click here in order to report yourself or you will be fired." I think there's been an improvement in creativity. Not in numbers, but in creativity. Before there was, "You've won an iPhone" or "You've won one million. Please click here." Now they cannot do this anymore. You have to improve your creativity to find a new way to trick the customers.
The pricing for Cisco Duo is really good in the sense that you can try it. There are different packages, and you can choose the one that fits you the most, and you can try it for free for 30 days. So it's a very good catch. And for the price, I think it's worth it. I have not received any bad feedback about the price. I think it's okay.
We were talking about proximity with Bluetooth for Cisco Duo, but now it's been released, which is good because sometimes attackers use MFA fatigue, which means they will bombard you with push requests for everything. But now you need the device you're using to log in to be connected via Bluetooth next to the device you are also using to log yourself in. So that's good. It was one feature I had the idea for, and now I saw that they are doing it. That's excellent.
I would rate this review a 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.