ndly method that might enable its 130,000 customers to securely work anyplace, from any system, with out friction. By leveraging its personal Duo Passwordless, the staff was capable of eradicate phishable multi-factor authentication components, enhance usability and productiveness, cut back authentication actions by 93%, and safe its workforce from anyplace.
At Cisco, securing our office for the longer term means constantly adapting to technological developments and staying forward of the risk panorama. Leveraging our personal suite of safety merchandise, together with Duo, has been key in serving to us try this.
When most of our workforce labored remotely throughout the pandemic, we applied Duo Past and moved from a conventional network-based perimeter and VPN mannequin to a zero-trust framework in order that customers might securely work anyplace, from any system, with out friction.
At this time, our zero-trust journey continues as we attempt to satisfy the safety wants of at the moment whereas adapting for what’s subsequent with Duo Passwordless. Id is now the perimeter— the primary line of protection towards cyber threats. With most knowledge breaches coming from weak or stolen credentials, it’s clear that the longer term requires passwordless authentication.
The issue with passwords
To place it merely, passwords are a straightforward goal for hackers. As soon as the gold customary for shielding delicate data, passwords at the moment are outdated and weak within the ever-evolving risk panorama. They’re extremely inclined to phishing assaults, could be simply forgotten, and infrequently result in person frustration that brings an inflow of password-related assist desk tickets to IT groups.
When suffering from password fatigue, customers are inclined to make use of weak, reused, or solely barely modified passwords throughout totally different accounts. Good password administration is tough and tough to implement, and previous to utilizing Duo Passwordless, Cisco IT struggled to handle these challenges throughout an enormous workforce spanning greater than 130,000 customers.
As a big firm and a frontrunner in expertise, a compromise in our safety can have a significant affect on our enterprise and our innovation. If attackers receive delicate data akin to supply code, inner system particulars, buyer knowledge, or mental property, it not solely places our enterprise and workers in danger, however the clients who depend on our expertise. We would have liked to adapt our strategy to authentication to mitigate the password associated safety dangers to our enterprise and challenges confronted by our workers and help groups.
Conventional multi-factor authentication (MFA) is not enough
Authentication has advanced as cybercrime has grow to be increasingly more subtle. We began with “one thing you recognize,” or a username and password. We added MFA, which mixes “one thing you recognize” with “one thing you may have” or “are” like a tool or fingerprint. Whereas stronger than a username and password alone, the “one thing you recognize” issue of a password remained inclined to vulnerabilities.
The transfer to passwordless: specializing in safety and person expertise
We started working carefully with the Duo product staff to take a user-friendly, zero belief strategy that not solely enhanced safety but in addition improved the person expertise. To do that, we applied Duo Passwordless. It wasn’t nearly bettering safety, however on the similar time cultivating a seamless expertise that might higher serve our clients and workers each now and into the longer term.
While Duo Passwordless continues to be MFA, it takes it a step additional and combines the expertise into one step, making for a smoother person expertise. It depends on cryptographic public-private key pairs, using biometrics (akin to fingerprint or facial recognition) or safety keys like YubiKeys to authenticate customers with out the necessity for passwords.
Enhancing Duo as buyer zero
As “buyer zero” for Duo Passwordless, we had the flexibility to check and enhance the expertise by means of early pilot packages earlier than launch. Utilizing a multi-phased strategy, we began with a small group of IT and safety employees, bettering efficiency and performance by means of suggestions earlier than progressively increasing to the total workforce over 10 months. The data gained from preliminary pilot teams and insights into how totally different customers can be impacted helped form our strategy to speaking the modifications with our workforce.
Via cautious collaboration between groups throughout our group, Cisco IT Safety and the Safety and Belief Group (S&TO) started driving the course of our passwordless future. My staff inside IT Safety served as the principle drivers behind this effort, with S&TO offering change administration help, and IT UX, IT Comms, and IT Analysis & Analytics supporting as wanted. Assist@Cisco additionally performed a task as soon as we shifted to necessary passwordless just for key apps, managing the help course of for our inner customers so service groups might deal with the operation and enchancment of the product.
Challenges and classes realized
Whereas the total rollout has seen excessive ranges of natural workforce enrollment with restricted promotion, there have been some challenges with adoption. Many customers reported preliminary considerations with using biometrics. For instance, Home windows Good day customers who didn’t log in with biometrics by default, merely didn’t know to set it up. Except particularly informed, customers on this state of affairs didn’t understand biometrics have been an possibility for them.
To treatment, we targeted on worker training round how biometrics are used, the place they’re saved, in addition to the worth of shifting to passwordless authentication. As well as, we supplied options to biometrics. For instance, on Home windows, customers can use a PIN. In the event that they don’t like platform-based authenticators, they’ll use a YubiKey with a PIN or setup a passkey on a cellular system.
Additionally essential to notice, we didn’t initially mandate the transfer to passwordless. Our strategy to encouraging worker adoption and alter was formed by our dedication to delivering one of the best person expertise. We needed to ship companies and expertise that acted as a magnet for adoption somewhat than a mandate.
Now that we’re additional into our journey, we’ve began Passwordless Solely enforcement on sure apps. The slower, however at-will transition allowed natural adoption and helped get individuals comfy with the brand new expertise prior to creating the observe necessary.
The affect: A safer and productive workforce
For the reason that passwordless resolution was made out there to the complete workforce, we’ve seen substantial advantages together with:
- Zero password-related safety incidents
- A frictionless expertise for over 130,000 workers with zero belief safe entry
- Improved usability and productiveness, decreasing authentication actions by 93%
- Enhanced safety by eliminating phishable MFA components
- Substantial discount in IT time and prices resulting from fewer password-related points
The longer term: Continued innovation and enlargement
Whereas there’s a lengthy highway forward of a full business shift away from passwords totally, this has primarily been about altering the expertise for our workforce at the moment and mitigating potential future threats for our enterprise. Getting ready for a totally passwordless future is a journey that we proceed to construct and enhance on, together with:
- Enhancing safety and usefulness for our workforce: Our journey started with our implementation of Duo Past and continues with Duo Passwordless, underpinning our present transition to Cisco Safe Entry inside Cisco IT (extra to return!). Id safety is a basis for zero belief entry, and Duo is far more than simply MFA.
- Strengthening and evolving our zero-trust structure: The profitable rollouts of our Duo options mixed with the newest rollout of Cisco Safe Entry unlocks even stronger zero belief outcomes with an identify-first SSE.
Study extra about Duo Passwordless Authentication, our journey, and the highly effective mixture of Cisco Safe Entry and Duo. For Cisco workers, learn to arrange passwordless in your Cisco system right here.
Further Assets:
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