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.
Network Administrator at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
A multi-factor authentication offering a good dashboard while being reasonably priced
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
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.
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Cisco Duo
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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.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Director of Product at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Is effective at preventing identity-based attacks and has an easy setup
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "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."
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.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Cisco Duo
June 2025

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IT specialist at Východoslovenský ústav srdcových a cievnych chorôb, a.s.
Enhanced security with multi-factor authentication at a premium cost
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Cisco Duo for us is the multi-factor authentication."
- "The price of Cisco Duo could be better."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Cisco Duo improved our security posture. It improved our security.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Cisco Duo for us is the multi-factor authentication.
What needs improvement?
The price of Cisco Duo could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Cisco Duo for about three months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Cisco Duo is very high. I would rate it highly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution scales well on a scale of one to ten, I would rate it an eight.
How are customer service and support?
We don't use Cisco Duo's support directly, only through our supplier.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used Microsoft Authenticator before switching to Cisco Duo because it was connected to other Cisco technologies.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Cisco Duo was quite easy.
What about the implementation team?
Cisco Duo was implemented by our supplier, who set it up for us.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate the pricing of Cisco Duo as a seven on a scale of one to ten, which means it is quite expensive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Microsoft Authenticator before choosing Cisco Duo.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Cisco Duo for its reliability, stability, and ease of implementation.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
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?
Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Sep 23, 2024
Flag as inappropriateIT Director at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Video Review
Considerably helps with identity in an environment without zero trust
Pros and Cons
- "I lead an IT organization that has a significant amount of technical debt, and we're not in a zero-trust architecture yet. I'm pushing in that direction. Duo helps me considerably with my identity in an environment where I don't have zero trust. It's helping me bridge the gap until I can build a zero trust architecture."
- "The only challenge is finding the right person sometimes. From what I've seen, being a named account is a big deal."
What is our primary use case?
My background is in electrical engineering. I have roughly almost thirty years in the industry, mostly in telecom, but the last ten years or so in enterprise. I'm currently in Anchorage, Alaska working for an organization that's Alaska-native company, which is more or less a conglomerate of different business lines. They work on everything from government contracts with NASA to construction to oil field operations, it's a lot of different businesses.
Our Duo Security implementation was done about a little over three and a half to four years ago. It was about six months before I joined the company. It was done in response to a breach in the company that involved compromised credentials.
I have personally been using Duo for as long as I've been in this company, so about three years.
How has it helped my organization?
We had a compromise of credentials and it resulted in a breach in the company. Had we had multifactor authentication at that time, we probably would have prevented that breach. In this day and age, I think multifactor authentication is an absolute requirement for anything you're doing.
I lead an IT organization that has a significant amount of technical debt, and we're not in a zero-trust architecture yet. I'm pushing in that direction. Duo helps me considerably with my identity in an environment where I don't have zero trust. It's helping me bridge the gap until I can build a zero trust architecture.
It has improved our cybersecurity resilience. Having multifactor authentication is critical because credential-based authentication is weak and it's going to be compromised. Having that additional factor in your authentication process is absolutely necessary.
What is most valuable?
Right now, we're only using multifactor authentication. That's the most useful to us right now.
Reduction in risk is the whole point of multifactor. It's authenticating and augmenting the credentials and authenticating the individual that is trying to access your environment. It definitely reduces risk.
I would characterize Duo Security’s user authentication and device verification for helping to prevent identity-based attacks as good. It's intuitive for the users. It's easy to set up. The centralized management for our IT health service desk is good and doesn't take a lot of time. They're skilled with it. I really don't have any complaints.
The Duo Portal for our IT staff is efficient. It's utilized on a daily basis, and they're good with it. So I think it does allow staff to concentrate on other tasks.
I would say it's good at establishing trust for every access request, no matter where it comes from. Anything built by man can be broken by man. So there's always a challenge around that. They're trying to overcome those push bombing and challenges like that, and we're on that journey with them.
What needs improvement?
Password management is difficult for us, especially for users. We would like to go passwordless. If we can go passwordless then you don't have a password manager.
I am looking at other security features with Duo right now. We're currently looking at the passwordless options. We're looking at VPN displacement options. We're looking at those things right now. We haven't adopted yet.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
My impression of the stability is good. I haven't seen issues in the app, the portal, or anything.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is there. Our organization is somewhere around 5,000 employees, and that is not very many users for a platform like Duo, so I don't see any issues with scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I've been using Cisco support for the better part of 25 years. I've seen good, I've seen bad.
Cisco support has improved over the years, they tend to be better at getting back to you.
The only challenge is finding the right person sometimes. From what I've seen, being a named account is a big deal. When I came to this organization, they worked named accounts, and I worked really hard to become one because I knew the difference, and our support has greatly improved since becoming one. I have a person I can call and I know they can find the right person to help me get my problem solved.
There are going to be problems with any system that's as complex as the products that Cisco sells. That's to be expected. It's really about how you get them resolved and how your partnership is there to make sure you're back up and running. Cisco, I believe, is really committed to that.
I would rate them at an eight because there's no ten and because they have the in-house expertise to solve the problem once you can find them. They have the resources to bring to bear to solve just about any problem you can imagine. They are a committed partner.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have personally used other multi-factor authentication platforms. I currently do personally use others. Duo was selected by the company before I came there, and I've been very pleased with it.
What was our ROI?
I would say we have absolutely seen ROI. We have not had another breach that involved a loss of credentials since implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is very comparable to other solutions that I've used. I would in no way see any weaknesses in Duo over the other products, I would say it's a premium product, and it commands a premium price.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Cisco Duo Security an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
A reliable and easy-to-use solution that is reasonably priced
Pros and Cons
- "The product is reliable and easy to use."
- "The technical engineers in the first line of support should improve their knowledge."
What is our primary use case?
We use Duo Security for multi-factor authentication.
How has it helped my organization?
The product makes our organization more secure.
What is most valuable?
Duo is reliable and easy to use. I’m pretty happy with all of the features. The user experience is pretty good. People without any technical background can run the applications without any issues.
What needs improvement?
The technical engineers in the first line of support should improve their knowledge. We often have to bounce all the cases to different levels.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Duo Security for more than ten years.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is pretty responsive. When there was an issue, support was able to provide a solution.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
From the security team’s perspective, the solution is pretty easy to deploy. From an end user’s perspective, it is very easy to download it and add the device to the profiles.
What about the implementation team?
We deploy the solution in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
Since I'm not an admin, I don't know how the device gets set up. The product is pretty good at securing our infrastructure. It protects everything and hardly leaves anything open. The infrastructure is secured.
Duo Security cannot do it all when it comes to reducing the risk of breaches. It can probably provide up to 50%, and the rest depends on the user. Things like phishing emails depend on the user. There is nothing that Duo Security can't do. The product does a pretty good job of protecting the infrastructure.
Duo Security’s user authentication and device verification are very good and very reliable. When we get a message to upgrade, we upgrade the tool. I don't have to spend a lot of time to get the device up to date.
The solution is reliable for establishing trust for every access request. It definitely is able to establish trust for the identity to protect the infrastructure. Our organization doesn’t necessarily believe that all resources must be considered external. We try to strike a balance between convenience and security. We don't treat everything as external. We keep certain internal stuff that doesn't have to go through the authentication.
The product increases the awareness of the employees about cybersecurity. Every time I log in, a Duo box pops up saying that I am authenticated and not leaving everything wide open. Try it and get a trial base, and then you will see the difference the tool can make.
Duo is the first platform that we used. My organization did an analysis to see how many potential attacks we'll have and how much money will be lost if we do not deploy Duo. I am not sure about the metrics, though.
Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Assistant IT Director at a government with 501-1,000 employees
Provides two-factor authentication, which adds an additional layer of security and easy user adaptation
Pros and Cons
- "Duo Security gives us an additional layer of security that would give us added confidence that our network will be less likely to get hacked, compromised, or otherwise."
- "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?""
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.
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.
Senior Director of Engineering Services at TD SYNNEX
An easy-to-install multi-factor authentication platform that offers speed and dependability at the same time
Pros and Cons
- "Regarding the valuable features, I would say that Duo Security is easy to use, has speed, and is dependable."
- "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."
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.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Distributor
Sr Modern Workplace Specialist at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
A straightforward solution with an excellent GUI, easy setup, and outstanding support
Pros and Cons
- "The integration with Azure Active Directory and the AWS cloud is amazing, as most products nowadays require the creation of a customized integration. With Duo Security, it was more like native integration, and it took me five minutes to register."
- "Integration with a product such as Microsoft Sentinel would be great. As the product continually improves, I'm unsure if this feature is available."
What is our primary use case?
A colleague and I conducted some market research, where we found the solution and implemented it according to our needs. We installed the agents in our server, which communicate with Duo Security and send a prompt to our mobiles which is very convenient. We can also use the authenticator with other products and integrate it with a password reset disk. The product covers all of our needs.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution allows us to cover significant organizations and audit organizations with very high-security demands. At that level, security is non-negotiable, and Duo Security provides a second layer multi-factor server authentication, easy implementation, and Microsoft integration.
What is most valuable?
The integration with Azure Active Directory and the AWS cloud is amazing, as most products nowadays require the creation of a customized integration. With Duo Security, it was more like native integration, and it took me five minutes to register.
The solution is straightforward, requiring minimal training and expertise to operate; IT staff have no problem understanding it.
The GUI is excellent, and the solution has valuable features, including policies and easy integration. It's a fantastic product.
Cisco owns Duo Security, and they are trusted everywhere, so establishing trust for access requests is never an issue. This is a major factor because when it comes to security, the solution must come from a trusted organization. We don't want to place our security in the hands of unknown third-party organizations; data leaks are a genuine concern.
I can't give specific details of my organization's security risks, but I can say that Duo Security has eliminated trust from my organization's network architecture.
I'm amazed by the product, especially by the ease of implementation. One of our major clients was equally impressed with the product. We use this solution to secure our network, which meets all our needs.
Compared with other products, Duo Security is excellent; I'm very impressed, and so are my colleagues. I can't speak highly enough of this solution. The support of hybrid work is vital nowadays, as many organizations are moving from on-premises to cloud and hybrid environments, so it's important for the product to be compatible with both environments.
In the enterprise segment, we require many solutions to defend against different threats, with each system responsible for its own security function. Duo Security remediates the specific threats we need and has all the necessary features.
I would rate the solution a 10 out of 10 in this area.
What needs improvement?
Integration with a product such as Microsoft Sentinel would be great. As the product continually improves, I'm unsure if this feature is available.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is 100% stable.
I work with many products, and I've realized that the ones based in America run SMS and phone call communications through Twilio. As we are outside America, Twilio isn't correctly integrated with our local ISPs, so it has some issues with our IPs. This can impede our communications and is an issue I've faced multiple times because of Twilio.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The platform is highly scalable, and Duo Security is constantly improving its product; I receive weekly emails about new features and improvements they have made.
How are customer service and support?
The support staff are fantastic, they're very impressive and I would rate them a 10 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We use the native Microsoft Authenticator and implement Duo Security as an additional layer of protection.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward; Duo Security provides excellent documentation and support compared to other companies. This solution can be deployed in a day.
What about the implementation team?
I deployed the solution myself using the provided documentation and sometimes reached out to support. I never had an issue, and implementation took just two days.
What was our ROI?
We definitely received an ROI; the solution improved our security by perhaps 70%, and this particular landing zone requires significant protection.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I only need the solution for IT staff, which makes it relatively cheap. If I deployed it for the whole company, it would be costly, so it depends on the number of users. Duo Security is affordable compared to other products in the segment.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I don't exactly remember which other solutions we considered, but we used G2's platform's reports to evaluate them.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
The maintenance of network connectivity depends on the complexity of the organization. It is easy to implement for our company and our architecture, but it wouldn't be as easy for a more complex network structure like a bank. We use the SaaS version of the product, so it's straightforward to implement and maintain.
Our staff weren't used to using MFA, so it was initially frustrating for them, but this is a security requirement for us, and they adapted to it.
I would advise leaders looking to build resilience in their organization to implement another MFA product like Duo Security.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

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Updated: June 2025
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Hi Ata! It looks like you can integrate with Sentinel using the Cisco Duo Security Data Connection for Sentinel: https://help.duo.com/s/article...