Authentication solutions company Badge Inc. today announced a new partnership with Cisco Duo to introduce a hardware-independent roaming multifactor authentication solution that promises secure, efficient and user-friendly identity and authentication processes.

The partnership seeks to address issues with traditional hardware-based MFA, which can cause high friction, disrupt operations and result in employee workarounds that can increase the attack surface for security breaches. Thrown into the mix is that Cisco’s Duo Authenticator product requires users to be in possession of a second device, which is not always available or allowed depending on the environment.

The partnership sees Badge allowing Cisco Duo to unlock new identity and authentication use cases while reducing friction and enabling seamless, password-less enrollment using verifiable credentials. Badge leverages the initial identity verification enrollment, allowing users to authenticate access credentials anywhere, anytime and on any device.

“With Badge’s novel privacy-preserving authentication, Cisco Duo users can access any device or application without storing user secrets or private keys,” said co-founder Dr. Tina Srivastava. “This eliminates the friction and cost burdens associated with traditional MFA methods like tokens and repeated phone re-registration. Additionally, by removing reliance on physical devices and insecure account recovery processes, Badge and Duo are raising the bar, making it harder for attackers to gain unauthorized access.”

Through the partnership, Duo can also operate as a certified passkey provider, leveraging Badge to extend Duo’s passwordless capabilities. The Badge integration with Duo does not require users to cede trust in their key trees or login credentials to a centralized authority.

With Badge’s technology, users enroll once and can access their passkeys on any device across Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google LLC ecosystems. Cisco Duo is the latest addition to Badge’s partner network, which includes Okta Inc., Auth0 Inc., Radiant Logic Inc. and Ping Identity Holding Corp.

Duo has been a part of Cisco Systems Inc. since it was acquired for $2.35 billion in 2018. Badge is a privately held company that has raised a single round of funding from Wing Venture Capital LLC.

Image: Badge