Cisco Duo Reimagines Identity Security to Combat AI Era Threats

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 28, 2025 – In an era dominated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), the threat landscape is rapidly evolving, with identity-based attacks becoming a prime target for cybercriminals. According to Cisco Talos Incident Response cases in 2024, identity accounts for 60% of all security breaches. In response to this growing concern, Cisco has unveiled Duo Identity and Access Management (IAM), a groundbreaking solution that revolutionizes how organizations combat persistent identity-based threats.

"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 Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer, Cisco. "Attackers don't need to hack in; when they can simply log in." With this innovative solution, Duo IAM moves beyond traditional multifactor authentication (MFA) and restores trust in identity security with a fundamentally different approach that attackers hate and users love.

Cisco's 2025 Cybersecurity Readiness Index reveals that nearly a third of companies worldwide rank identity as their top cybersecurity challenge. However, traditional Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions often treat security as optional rather than foundational. Duo IAM is purpose-built to protect against modern identity threats, enabling organizations to securely manage their entire identity infrastructure.

Duo IAM includes several key features that simplify storing user identities – including usernames, emails, and roles – and managing access to resources. Paired with its existing capabilities, such as MFA and Single Sign On (SSO), Duo now offers customers a comprehensive IAM solution. The new Identity Routing Engine allows Duo to integrate with many identity providers either as an identity broker or as a secondary identity provider.

One of the standout features of Duo IAM is its security by design approach, which frustrates attackers while improving user experience and management costs. The Cisco AI Assistant is embedded in Duo to help organizations easily deploy and manage the new solution out-of-the-box. Additionally, globally trusted Duo MFA now delivers the strongest form of authentication without sacrificing convenience or purchasing expensive hardware keys.

Recent innovations strengthening end-to-end phishing resistance include: Identity infrastructure is complex and often disconnected, creating blind spots where attacks and vulnerabilities go unnoticed. To help organizations continuously monitor and respond to changes in identity risk, Duo IAM integrates with Cisco Identity Intelligence, connecting identity and access data across the Cisco Security Cloud platform.

With AI-driven behavioral analytics and Cisco's unmatched reach into the network, organizations gain comprehensive visibility, threat detection, and the ability to take graduated responses like quarantining an identity, killing active sessions or isolating the network. "Cisco Duo has been a trusted security partner when it comes to MFA, and in today's environment we're eager to use these new capabilities to fight growing identity-based attacks," said Todd Perrault, Senior Vice President of Client Advisory, Optiv.

"Duo's expanding suite of identity and access management solutions will deliver even stronger results for our customers with a security-first approach to identity while providing reduced friction for end users," added Todd Thiemann, Principal Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Identity breaches are no longer the exception; they're the rule. Seeing a trusted security brand like Duo broaden from access management to include identity management and provide a security-first approach in the market is both timely and refreshing."

"Duo's commitment to maximizing security while minimizing user and admin friction is exactly what the industry needs. In particular, their approach to end-to-end phishing resistance marks a major leap forward, not just in security but also in ease of deployment, to combat the latest identity threats," said Thiemann.

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For more information about Duo and its new IAM solution, visit duo.com. Follow us on X at @Cisco for the latest updates on Cisco's commitment to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all.

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