Insignia Inc., a digital privacy company founded by MIT cryptographers, has partnered with Cisco Duo to introduce a new hardware-agnostic roaming multi-factor authentication (MFA) tool. This partnership is seen as an industry first and adds Cisco to Insignia’s network of identity partners, which includes Octa/Auth0, radiant logic, and Ping Identity.
The MFA systems in place are vulnerable to various methods that can bypass authentication security, as explained in a blog post by Web Security Lens. Traditional hardware-based MFA can also be cumbersome, disrupt operations, and force employees to find workarounds, leading to increased security vulnerabilities.
Cisco’s Duo Authenticator currently handles 16 billion authentications a year, primarily for virtual and remote desktop access. However, this often requires a secondary device that may not always be available or allowed in certain environments, creating a need for a more flexible tool. Insignia’s integration with Cisco Duo enables new identity and authentication scenarios, allowing for passwordless registration through verifiable credentials (VC).
Dr. Tina P Srivastava, co-founder of Insignia, highlights the benefits of this collaboration, noting that privacy-preserving authentication allows users to access devices or applications without storing user secrets or private keys. This eliminates the need for traditional MFA methods like tokens and repeated phone registration, making it harder for attackers to gain unauthorized access.
Recent insights from Cisco Duo warn that traditional authentication methods are failing and that MFA coverage is still incomplete, leaving room for attackers to bypass weaker forms of authentication. With Insignia’s collaborative tool, the need for alternative account recovery processes due to phishing attacks is reduced when users do not have their MFA-requiring mobile devices.
Ginger Leishman, Technology Alliances Manager for Cisco Duo, explains that with Insignia, users can register once and access their passcodes across various devices within the Apple, Microsoft, and Google ecosystems. This makes it possible for users to maintain control over their authentication keys without relying on a centralized authority.
In early 2024, Insignia launched its proprietary biometric authentication software, allowing users to register once and authenticate across all devices without the need to register again. This move aims to streamline the authentication process for users and enhance security measures.
Overall, the integration between Insignia and Cisco Duo represents a step towards more advanced and flexible authentication methods, addressing the weaknesses of traditional MFA systems and providing a more user-friendly and secure experience for organizations and their employees.
Article Source
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202407/badge-and-cisco-duo-launch-hardware-independent-mfa-tool
