Cisco Systems Inc., through its Cisco Duo arm, today unveiled Duo Identity and Access Management, a new security solution that transforms how organizations combat persistent identity-based attacks that are accelerating in the artificial intelligence era.

The solution assists in dealing with security around identities, which are a prime target for bad actors and accounted for 60% of Cisco Talos Incident Response cases in 2024. Cisco argues that current solutions have critical weaknesses that attackers exploit and traditional IAM solutions often treat security as optional rather than foundational.

Duo IAM differs by offering an innovative and security-first approach, with added protection built on its trusted multifactor authentication. Purpose-built to protect against modern identity threats, Duo IAM allows organizations to securely manage their entire identity infrastructure.

The service includes a new user directory to simplify storing user identities, including usernames, emails and roles, and managing their access to resources. The directory is paired with existing Duo capabilities, including single sign-on and multifactor authentication, to provide users with simple, easy and secure access to hundreds of applications from one login page.

Duo IAM also integrates effortlessly with existing third-party identity systems. A new Identity Routing Engine allows Duo to integrate many identity providers, either as an identity broker or as a secondary identity provider. With security incorporated by default, Duo IAM is claimed by Cisco to frustrate attackers while also improving user experience and management costs.

Phishing protection

The new offering also introduces advanced phishing protection capabilities, including Complete Passwordless, which ensures secure authentication without users needing to remember or input passwords. The approach eliminates a major point of compromise in traditional systems.

Another new feature, Proximity Verification, leverages Bluetooth Low Energy technology to confirm that a user’s mobile device and the access device are in close proximity during authentication, adding an extra layer of assurance.

Along with the core security features, Duo IAM integrates with Cisco Identity Intelligence to allow organizations to monitor identity risks in real time and proactively respond. The integration connects identity and access data across the Cisco Security Cloud platform, leveraging AI-driven behavioral analytics to detect threats and automate response actions.

Organizations also gain the ability to take graduated responses, such as quarantining an identity, terminating active sessions, or isolating compromised network segments. The result is that emerging threats can be swiftly neutralized without disrupting legitimate user activity.

“The security industry is facing an ‘identity crisis’ as persistent identity-based attacks are among the most dangerous and costly challenges for security teams,” said Cisco President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel. “Attackers don’t need to hack in when they can simply log in. While identity is the foundation of strong security, traditional IAM solutions have failed to prioritize security despite increasingly sophisticated threats. With this massive innovation, Duo is moving beyond MFA and restoring trust in identity security with a fundamentally different approach that attackers hate and users love.”

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