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I am an IT system support person, and my use cases with Cisco Duo started out with helping clients at my firm and the firms my contracting agencies had by teaching them how to set up Cisco Duo and understand how to use it. Eventually, some of the systems I have access to on my own, usually the corporate systems and employee portals, were Cisco Duo-protected. It has been a split between using Cisco Duo and Microsoft Authenticator, depending on how the MFA has been set up. I started out as IT support, helping people install Cisco Duo on their Android and Apple devices, and I believe they actually had a computer client. Eventually, I had to use it in my own work to authenticate and gain access to the systems I support. Moreover, I have seen a lot of it used to access employee portals, either by end-user employees or my own employee portals.

My last access to Cisco Duo involved helping people either activate their Cisco Duo accounts on their individual Apple or Android devices, or if they were locked out, unlock their accounts or move them over to a new device.

The features I use in Cisco Duo include Duo Pushes to confirm my identity to the device, and eventually as MFA security was increased, I actually had to use exchange passcodes. Sometimes, I have to go into the site and get into Cisco Duo to retrieve the passcode, and many of them have been two-factor, where the sites send a passcode that I have to enter into Cisco Duo. It has been more of the latter.

I have not seen issues with lagging or crashing on Cisco Duo's end; it was usually on the client end, often because someone set up a bad upgrade or there were connection issues with the Cisco Duo cloud through the administrative site.

As support, I do not find it an issue with Cisco Duo product itself; it is more an issue of organization administration. Often, people do not receive expiration messages, and sometimes, for security reasons, accounts get disabled without notifying the end user, so they mistakenly think something has gone wrong when it really just needs to be re-enabled on the external system. It is primarily an issue on the administrative side of the firm I am working for.

I am familiar with Cisco Duo and have probably been using it since around 2020.

Cisco Duo seems very scalable. In my experience, I started with a small-medium business, and in my last contracting position, it was a large one for a major worldwide airline that had hundreds of thousands of devices that could use Cisco Duo, and it scaled very well. The administrative site was also very easy to navigate for locating people and devices. I also have a background in computer asset management, so I have the skill set to locate device records easily.

In terms of quality and speed of support for Cisco Duo, I find it just as fine as any other Cisco product. It is simpler at the endpoint; there is much less involved in calling technical support to resolve issues compared to other Cisco products. I have also dealt with firewalls and VPNs, and I can say that Cisco Duo administration is much less involved than other Cisco areas. I would rate support for Cisco Duo a 10, as I have never had a negative experience.

Positive

My experience with MFA is primarily Cisco Duo and Microsoft Authenticator, and I have used them both similarly, either as pushes for allow or deny or as stronger MFA requirements such as exchanging passcodes. From my experience, Cisco Duo seems a lot easier to install and operate. In helping add accounts to either my devices or to the devices of the people I am supporting, both systems work well. I can get passcodes or utilize QR codes. One thing I noticed about my current firm is their initial hesitation to consider QR code exchange secure, but eventually, it was re-enabled to reduce support times. As an administrator, I have done both, pushing activation to pre-installed devices already registered to a system or actually sending people a QR code to their email, and both methods worked fine with personal and corporate email.

The setup of Cisco Duo is easy. Most of the time, the setup took me walking the end user through the installation over the phone, but if they understood how to get to their App Store or Play Store, it takes probably under two minutes. Most of it depends on wide area network or internet speed; activating directly on a client device versus sending an activation email makes a difference. If it is all set up and requires only sending an activation code message, it is about a minute. Cisco Duo installs very quickly on Android and Apple devices, provided the Wi-Fi connection is good.

From what I was involved in with Cisco Duo, we actually conducted Cisco Duo pushes through the management systems, enabling that through MDMs, the Bomgar. I found it pretty easy to grab the latest version of the Cisco Duo installer to update the packages on our management systems. I do not remember having any problems; it is one of the easier applets to package or to already find packaged.

I am currently between jobs or contracts, but I believe for the MFA administrator, it would help if they set up the filters for gathering the data. Cisco Duo seems very scalable. In my experience, I started with a small-medium business, and in my last contracting position, it was a large one for a major worldwide airline that had hundreds of thousands of devices that could use Cisco Duo, and it scaled very well. The administrative site was also very easy to navigate for locating people and devices. I also have a background in computer asset management, so I have the skill set to locate device records easily. I have given this review an overall rating of 10.

My main use case for Cisco Duo is multi-factor authentication. Whenever I am trying to log in to a service, Cisco Duo sends me a push notification. I use it for different services including several of my work emails, Instagram, and many different applications. Whenever I am logging in, to ensure that it is really me logging in, I have to go to Cisco Duo and approve the push that was sent, or sometimes enter the code that has been given by the application. This ensures the security of my account.

I find Cisco Duo to be easy to use for multi-factor authentication compared to other authenticators that I have used. Cisco Duo is comparatively much simpler to use than others, so intuitiveness is something that I really appreciate.

The interface is definitely easier to understand and the workflow is straightforward. Multi-factor authentication can be so challenging depending upon what authenticator you are using, as sometimes they make life unnecessarily difficult. Given that multi-factor authentication is an extra process, using other authenticators can feel much more burdensome than it should. Cisco Duo's process makes authentication much simpler. For example, even during setup, the process is really easy, and once you are set up, you do not have to battle with other authentication issues. It is just as simple as receiving a push, approving it, and that is it.

I definitely feel more secure with Cisco Duo. Based on my talks with other people and my own reflection, I feel more secure knowing I have multi-factor authentication in place. I actually feel good about using Cisco Duo rather than others. I have other authentication apps on my phone, and Cisco Duo is by far the easiest. I feel that I am using a good product that not only secures my accounts but also will not be a headache to use. When I sign into other accounts that use other authenticators, I usually experience stress or anxiety that I will have difficulty authenticating. With Cisco Duo, the process is straightforward. I log into my accounts many different times, as I am a professor and must log in repeatedly when going to different classes. It does not give me a hard time. If I cannot approve the push due to internet connectivity issues, they can send me a code, and I know there are several other options available to get authenticated. That is another good point about Cisco Duo.

Logging in with Cisco Duo's strong security authentication system has been easy for all the reasons I have explained. Definitely, having multi-factor authentication helps with phishing, and everyone uses Cisco Duo for multi-factor authentication in my organization. Having Cisco Duo helps with multi-factor authentication, which in turn helps prevent phishing emails, so there is a direct relevance there.

I think the location accuracy could use a little improvement because it does not always show the exact location from which I am signing in.

For accuracy and reliability of output, the accuracy could be more precise regarding the location from where the sign-in is occurring. Reliability is really strong. Cisco Duo offers many different options to get signed in, so I would rate reliability ten out of ten.

I have been working in my current field for the past five years.

Setup is really easy, and once you are set up, you do not have to battle with other authentication issues. It is just as simple as receiving a push and approving it.

I do not have the metrics, but regarding return on investment, I would say just by working in this field, I can honestly say that Cisco Duo has provided a return on investment based on security. We have definitely had that return because nowadays, the education domain is really targeted by malicious actors. Especially for students, who are not really concerned about security, Cisco Duo provides a layer of security, particularly for student accounts and many other users who are not explicitly concerned about security.

I chose a rating of nine out of ten for all the reasons I have told you before. I think I would say just set it up correctly and let Cisco Duo do its job. My overall review rating for Cisco Duo is nine out of ten.