Duo Security, best known for its simple mobile phone two-factor authentication, announced today that it was expanding its Duo Platform security tool to give IT administrators greater visibility and control over every device entering the network.
Last April the company announced Duo Platform, giving IT admins the ability to set policies, automate enforcement and see all of the devices trying to access a company’s network.
As Ryan Lawler wrote in TechCrunch at the time:
By tracking all of these data points, Duo Platform can determine what good and bad access looks like, and block devices accordingly. It can also generate reports on access and authentication, giving administrators better tools for keeping track of the devices and users accessing their networks and applications.
With today’s announcement, IT can quickly assess their entire environment and identify devices running vulnerable versions of browsers or operating systems through a centralized display of the data in the Duo Platform Admin Panel.
For instance, if your laptop is running an outdated and unpatched version of Windows, the administrator could see that, then set a policy that employees won’t be allowed to access the network until they update it. The same goes for the browser or mobile operating system.
Outdated browsers and operating systems are often an easy attack zone for hackers. In fact, Duo claims its research has found that 60 percent of Macs and 80 percent of Windows machines are running old versions of the OS, which could leave these machines vulnerable to a number of attacks.
Part of the problem is that today, companies don’t have the same level of control over their environment they once did when they issued the computers and phones. People are increasingly bringing their own machines including tablets and laptops into the workplace and logging onto the company network from inside and outside the company. Today’s announced capability gives IT an element of control by letting them see vulnerabilities and preventing devices that are potentially dangerous from accessing the network.
Duo has been around since 2010 providing an easy way for individuals to protect their apps. Using a simple approve or deny second factor. In other words, you sign in and then simply click Approve on the next screen to continue. The security comes into play when you see one of those second screens and you didn’t log in, signaling that someone has compromised your logon credentials and giving you the ability to block them. It also signals you that it’s time to change your user name and password.
Duo raised $30 million last April bringing their total to $49 million across four rounds, according to Crunchbase. Duo Platform is a subscription service that costs a flat rate $6 per user per month.