1. Home
  2. Authentication Systems
  3. Cisco Duo Reviews
  4. User Review of Cisco Duo
Duo - A necessary layer of protection
June 25, 2021

Duo - A necessary layer of protection

James Heiney | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Secure Access by Duo

We use Duo for all of the employees at the university. We currently have it implemented for desktop and virtual machine access as well as Microsoft 365 access. It has helped us be far more secure than we were before the product was adopted. The most immediate impact was that our accounts were no longer being used by spammers when users were phished successfully.
  • It integrates very well with multiple products such as M365 and VMware
  • It allows for multiple security options including hardware tokens and a phone app
  • If users are locked out for whatever reason, it's easy to get them up and running again with the Duo admin dashboard
  • The admin interface could be a little better organized.
  • The pricing could be a little more favorable.
  • Duo has kept us safe from phishing attacks.
  • Duo keeps our VMware safer from attacks from that vector.
  • It also keeps our cloud environment and the information stored there, safe.
Configuration was fairly easy and the support that Duo provides is excellent. They are willing to help you through whatever issues you're having or assisting in changes that you make after implementation. The users have had an easy time adjusting to the adoption of the product and they are also happy with the multiple options provided for authentication.
We know who is logging on to what and can be safely assumed that the user is who they say they are. There is always the chance that a user could lose control of a phone or a security token, but that is an issue that Duo can't control. Duo is a layer of defense that is necessary in today's world.
The support has been fantastic. They are willing to help with the initial configuration or reconfiguration after the initial install. Their online documentation is comprehensive as well. If you prefer to do things yourself, Duo makes it easy to do that as well. We are notified on a very timely basis if there are any outages and are told when the service segment is working again.
We weren't certain on how to configure our authentication for Microsoft 365. We called and they walked us through different scenarios and helped to guide our decision. They didn't push the option they were most comfortable with and even provided us with the scripts to change configuration on the fly should the need arise.
Our school is based in Microsoft 365. Azure has a product built into their licensing (provided you have purchased the appropriate level or the add-on product.) The MFA in Azure is a work in process and doesn't offer broad integration options as Duo does. We didn't look into any other commercial products.
Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), VMware Carbon Black Cloud Endpoint Standard (formerly Cb Defense)
As far as multi-factor authentication goes, Duo is the one that everyone else needs to catch up to. There is a cost to it that can be more than competitors, but you can't beat the ease of use and the integration across platforms that it offers. It has been reliable with very few outages. The few outages we have seen have been short and we were well notified about both the issue and the resolution. Overall, the cost is far outweighed by the safety that Duo adds to your organization. Even a single, successful attack can easily cost far more than you will pay for the product.