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Rest Easy, Feel Secure with Duo Security
Updated July 25, 2023

Rest Easy, Feel Secure with Duo Security

Jerry Robinson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Secure Access by Duo

Duo Security is used to provide second form-factor authentication for remote access to our corporate information, either through Citrix or Cisco VPN. It is used by any authorized user across the enterprise controlled by membership in a specific active directory group. With Duo Security, we have addressed the need to ensure that access to our resources, specifically our EMR, is granted only to authorized individuals.
  • Duo Security allows a great deal of flexibility.
  • Duo Security allows a variety of ways to provide the authentication; push notification, SMS notification, or passcode.
  • Duo Security integrates with several applications and is simple to use.
  • Some of the reporting could could use improvement.
  • Log review could benefit from the addition of filters. As things are in the version I have, to see the detail I want, I often have to export the logs to CSV and create my own filters/sorting in Excel.
  • Duo Push doesn't always make it to the phone. Often this is due to poor data access on the part of the end user but, on rare occasion, data is available but the push notification doesn't make it. This results a timeout for the user causing login failure.
  • Duo Security helps me sleep better as I worry less about an external attacker gaining unauthorized access to my network.
  • If there is a downside to Duo Security, it is that we did get some pushback from the end user community as they felt it was a hinderance to their workflow. However, Duo Security's flexibility allowed us to minimize that impact.
  • Duo Security provides a lot of information about the devices being used to access your network remotely.
I find that Duo is one of the easiest systems to manage. Enrolling users via AD Sync is simply a matter of dropping an new user into an AD group. External users can be added manually and activation information sent to them while internal users can self-enroll.
We use Duo to protect both internal (Citrix Gateway and VPN) and external sites (Epic's UserWeb, Arctic Wolf, Tanium). Having MFA in place where critical information is stored is a game changer.
Because of it's ease of use, we have very few support calls but, the few that did take place have had quick and knowledgeable response.
Recently, we had an issue where a component of Duo was not working as expected. I emailed support and was in contact with an engineer within the hour.
This was the only such product we looked at for external second form-factor authentication.

Do you think Cisco Duo delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Duo's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Duo live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Duo go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Duo again?

Yes

Duo Security is well suited for any organization that is subject to external compliance requirements or even those who simply want to be sure that the person accessing their network is who they say they are. Though we use it only for external connections, it could easily be used to validate internal connections.

Cisco Hybrid Work

  • Webex Meetings
  • Webex Calling
  • Slido
  • Cisco AnyConnect
  • Cisco Umbrella
  • Cisco Secure Access by Duo
  • Cisco Secure Endpoint
  • Working from anywhere (e.g., coffee shop, airport)
  • Working from an office or other company space
  • Working from home
Cisco Umbrella is the foundation to build on so as to protect devices on or off the network. From there, AnyConnect and Duo are essential for securing the communications. Webex with Softphone enabled provides needed mobility.
Learning how to use the features built into the various tools to maximize productivity was our biggest challenge.
The Cisco solutions have allowed us to have the flexibility we needed to accommodate our ever changing needs.
I think that the hybrid model has improved work/life balance for many of our staff. It has increase our flexibility but, I do find that hybrid workers can become more disconnected.
Honestly, we chose Webex because of a Cisco program to help enterprises deal with COVID. Since then, we have continued to expand our use. Other products that we have tried in the past simply do no measure up.
  • Webex
Webex is our only official collaboration tool. We do participate in meeting using Teams or Zoom when forced to by the host.

Resilience and Reliability

Resilience is a by-product of redundancy. With a product like Duo, it is essential that it be available at all times. While there may be work-arounds to allow access during an outage, those essentially negate the value. Duo provides peace of mind and their resilience plays a big part of that in CyberSecurity.
Layers. CyberSecurity should be build like an onion. When the bad actor peels back one layer, there's yet another. The more resiliency you have in your security framework, the less attractive you are to hackers. They are looking for the easiest targets first.
Secure Access is one of the best purchases I've ever made. I would not want to run my network or provide remote access without it.
The documentation is quite clear and the number of applications you can protect grows all the time.
In the last 5+ years we've been using Duo, there may have been 1 outage that impacted us. We do receive periodic notifications of issues but, for the most part, they impact carriers or functionality that we either don't use, or do not care about.
As mentioned before, Duo's documentation is extremely thorough and accurate. I have rarely had to call them to obtain additional guidance.
  • We use it to protect ADFS integrated SaaS apps.
  • We use it as a OTP application for sites that have their own internal MFA

Using Cisco Secure Access by Duo

1200 - Clinicians, managers and support staff.
7 - Duo is supported by our PC Tech's. Duo support requires a minimum of technical skills.
  • Remote Access MFA
  • EPCS
  • OTP for External Apps
  • Endpoint Control

Evaluating Cisco Secure Access by Duo and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
We wanted something that was easy to use while providing us with a level of comfort that we would have the protection we needed.

Price and usability were important, but features were the most important. We had to know it would do the job.
No changes.

Cisco Secure Access by Duo Implementation

  • Implemented in-house
Yes - In a way, yes. We implemented Duo specifically for one application. Once we became comfortable with Duo and learned what it could do, we would add more applications.
Change management was minimal - Communication of new capacity was essential.
  • End user training.

Cisco Secure Access by Duo Training

  • Online Training
  • In-Person Training
  • No Training
There was no in person training but checking the box was the only way I could complete all of the questions.
This was not organized training but the videos that Duo provides to teach you how to install a particular integration are top notch.
I don't feel like formalized training was needed. The videos for each integration provide all that you need.

Configuring Cisco Secure Access by Duo

You have a lot of flexibility in how each integration can be configured.
Consider taking Duo's recommended defaults.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
We did not do any customization.

Cisco Secure Access by Duo Support

ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
I believe my subscription includes premium support but I did not buy anything specifically entitled that. Regardless, I've had no issues getting quick resolution to the few problems we've had.

Using Cisco Secure Access by Duo

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • User integration
  • Policy management
  • None

Cisco Secure Access by Duo Reliability

So far, the only limits we've encountered were tied to our imagination. Duo's strong list of supported integrations is amazing.
We do not see any degradation of performance of the protected applications. There are occasional lags in receiving the push but no show stooppers.

Integrating Cisco Secure Access by Duo

  • Cisco VPN
  • Citrix Access Gateway
  • Microsoft RDP
  • Web SDK
  • Epic EPCS
The integration was easy in every case and has been rock solid.
  • Not currently
None of the above.
Don't limit yourself.

Relationship with Cisco

Our vendor, Mainline, worked with us to help understand the various pricing models.
Post sale support was not needed but annual renewals are provided in a timely fashion.
There were not principle terms that required negotiation.
Be upfront with your needs and don't hesitation to ask questions.

Upgrading Cisco Secure Access by Duo

Yes - We have completed several upgrades of the Duo Auth Proxy service and they have been seamless.
  • Improved performance
  • Improved reliability
  • Additional features.
  • Nothing specific.
Yes - We upgraded from base to the middle tier a couple of years ago.