Security

Review: Cisco Duo Guides Health Systems Toward a Zero-Trust Approach

This multifactor authentication solution offers effective identity and access management for healthcare organizations.

Carlos Soto is an award-winning reviewer and journalist with 20 years of experience covering technology and business.

In the digital age, healthcare organizations face myriad challenges related to data security, user access and regulation compliance. As hospitals increasingly adopt artificial intelligence and advanced clinical applications, securing these diverse digital resources while ensuring ease of access for nurses, physicians and other team members becomes more difficult.

It’s essential for healthcare organizations to add an extra layer of protection to accounts, ensuring staff members use two or more methods to verify their identities while also making it more difficult for unauthorized users to access sensitive data and resources. Ideally, this added verification augments password requirements by using a phone or security token as part of the process before providing access to healthcare networks or resources.

I recently reviewed the Cisco Duo and found it to be a great multifactor solution. A cloud-based security solution, Duo helps healthcare organizations prevent unauthorized access to their data and applications with a robust and surprisingly user-friendly platform that enhances security and accessibility without compromising the user experience.

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At the core of Cisco Duo’s MFA capabilities is the requirement that users provide two or more verification methods before they can access sensitive information or applications.

For health systems, where multiple professionals access various systems and data daily, using Duo addresses a number of potential attack vectors and mitigates the risks associated with unauthorized access.

Using a zero-trust security model, Duo verifies user identity during every attempt to access network resources, helping protect hospitals and clinics from identity-related security breaches. By using push notifications to mobile devices to verify users, organizations boost their cybersecurity posture against common threats such as phishing, ransomware and theft.

Cisco Due Integrates With Existing Systems

On a trip to a conference in Las Vegas, I used Duo and was impressed by two additional features:

Integration with Existing Systems

As an IT administrator, the worst thing that I ever had to manage was integrating new solutions into an existing ecosystem of applications and tools. Implementing new security measures in particular is daunting, to say the least. What’s great about Cisco Duo is its seamless integration with thousands of applications and services commonly used in a number of industries. From cloud storage solutions to administrative software, payroll and back-end systems, Duo enhances security without disrupting current workflows or protocols.

EXPLORE: This is the key step beyond authentication in identity and access management.

Simplicity at Its Best

It took just minutes to get secure access to resources. For healthcare systems, this easy setup minimizes disruption while maximizing effectiveness. The key to this is Cisco Duo’s intuitive interface, which pares down the steps needed to complete the authentication process. For example, upon setting up Duo for the first time, users are asked to choose either a passkey or the Duo mobile app. I timed each one, using both at home and while traveling from Las Vegas to San Francisco for work. At no point in my journey did I experience an issue with either method. Each takes about the same time to set up (about two minutes). Within eight minutes, I was fully set up in the system through both methods of identification. More important, resetting the system was easy to do as well, and didn’t require an IT administrator’s intervention.

Cisco Duo Addresses the Needs of Healthcare Organizations

Healthcare IT leaders focused on mitigating the increasing scrutiny of data privacy regulations, such as HIPAA or the California Consumer Privacy Act, will find a new best friend with Cisco Duo.

Duo’s robust compliance and reporting capabilities help organizations meet these and other regulatory requirements by providing detailed logging. Because Duo generates reports on how administrators monitor access attempts, flag suspicious activities and ensure that security protocols align with compliance standards, Cisco Duo MFA enables providers to comply with the most stringent data security laws.

SPECIFICATIONS
Brand: Cisco
Product Line: Duo Security
Model: Multifactor authentication
Software Main Type: License
Installation Type: Locally installed

More Reasons Cisco Duo Is Ideal for Healthcare

As organizations face increasing threats to their data and systems, Cisco Duo has emerged as one of the leading solutions for authentication and security in modern digital environments — especially as the need for robust multifactor authentication becomes more urgent at healthcare facilities.

Cisco Duo’s comprehensive features and user-friendly interface make it the ideal authentication tool for care teams, but it’s these lesser-known qualities that set Duo apart.

1. Scalability and Flexibility

Cisco Duo’s cloud-based architecture provides a scalable deployment, which results in a flexible platform for healthcare systems of all sizes. Cisco Duo adapts and integrates seamlessly to new parameters.

2. Cost-Effectiveness

Implementing strong security measures is expensive. MFA solutions such as Cisco Duo help organizations by reducing the need for extensive hardware investments with a subscription-based model. As a result, health systems can budget more effectively and access robust security services without compromising quality.

3. Strong Visibility Features

Cisco Duo offers robust visibility into the devices attempting to access organizational resources. IT security teams are empowered with the ability to monitor which devices are compliant with security policies and enforce rules based on device trustworthiness.

This approach enables organizations to adopt a zero-trust security model, verifying device compliance before allowing access.

4. Integrate Seamlessly

Cisco Duo plays well with others. It integrates into many applications and services, including cloud-based applications, VPNs and on-premises systems. This broad compatibility removes the need to overhaul existing network infrastructure, and access to the application programming interface empowers teams to customize Duo’s functionality to meet their specific security workflows.

As complex as healthcare networks are, integrating an effective MFA solution such as Cisco Duo can help admins take great strides in keeping all resources secure.