News Summary:
- Multi-factor authentications soar as enterprises move away from
passwords to secure hybrid workers
- Biometrics increase significantly, with a 48% surge in
authentications year over year
- More than half of IT decision makers plan to implement a
passwordless strategy
- Duo also saw fivefold growth in Web Authentication (WebAuthn)
usage since April 2019
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 14, 2021 /CNW/ -- NASDAQ: CSCO – A new
report published today from Cisco's Duo Security, the leading
multi-factor authentication (MFA) and secure access solution,
confirms that enterprises are taking steps to move away from
passwords and adopting low-friction authentication methods to
protect the hybrid workforce. While the total number of Duo MFA
authentications increased 39% in the past year, biometric
authentications grew even faster at 48%.
More than ever, organizations are realizing that usability is
security.
The 2021 Duo Trusted Access Report analyzed data
from more than 36 million devices, over 400,000 unique applications
and roughly 800 million monthly authentications from across Duo's
global customer base. It revealed how organizations across all
industries are enabling work from anywhere, on any device, by
implementing controls to ensure secure access to applications.
Biometrics were enabled on more than 71% of Duo customer mobile
phones, illustrating a rise in adoption driven by users' growing
acceptance of non-traditional authentication methods and the
accessibility of passwordless hardware that they already carry in
their pockets. Further eliminating the need for users to retain a
large cache of authentication passwords, Duo also saw a fivefold
increase in Web Authentication (WebAuthn) usage since April 2019 when the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) first published the open standard. WebAuthn enables
biometrics to be securely stored and validated locally on the
device, as opposed to a centralized database.
Duo has been a champion of passwordless technology, driving
WebAuthn's ratification as a member of the W3C working group and
launching its infrastructure agnostic passwordless authentication
product in March 2021.
Moving away from passwords will significantly improve the login
experience for the vast majority of users – in turn leading to
stronger security. More than half of organizations are planning to
implement a passwordless strategy, according to the new survey of
global IT decision makers conducted as part of the Trusted Access
Report. Forty-six percent of respondents said security issues
related to compromised credentials are the most frustrating or
concerning aspect of dealing with passwords in their
environment.
"We've now reached the point where the user experience is a
security control in and of itself," said Dave Lewis, Global Advisory CISO at Cisco.
"Enterprises are moving toward new, more effective ways of handling
access control and seeing in action how democratizing security can
go a long way in enabling hybrid workers to focus on their core
competencies without sacrificing security."
The importance of user-centric security that incorporates
employee work patterns to keep resources accessible and out of
reach for malicious actors is reinforced by the recent Cisco
Hybrid Work Index. The report showed that while there was a
surge in VPN and secure remote access at the onset of the pandemic,
fraudulent access attempts grew 2.4 times during the same time
period and remains elevated 18 months later. Due to these threats,
organizations are setting stricter policies to verify the trust of
users and devices before granting access to applications. The
number of authentication failures due to out-of-date devices
increased 33% between 2020 and 2021.
These are just a few of many findings in the 2021 Duo
Trusted Access Report. To download the report, please visit
http://duo.sc/tar-2021.
Additional resources:
- Blog: The 2021 Duo Trusted Access Report: The Road to a
Passwordless Future
- Blog: Want Passwordless to Succeed? Make It Easy
- Learn more: Passwordless Authentication by Duo
- Report: Cisco Hybrid Work Index
- Reference: Cisco Cybersecurity Report Series
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the
worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco
inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications,
securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and
empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover
more on The Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A
listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found
at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks
mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of
the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between
Cisco and any other company.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hybrid-work-pushes-to-end-passwords-ciscos-duo-security-report-finds-biometric-authentications-surge-significantly-during-pandemic-301399897.html
SOURCE Cisco Systems, Inc.