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SAN JOSE, Calif. — A recent report shows that enterprises are moving away from passwords and adopting low-friction authentication methods to protect the hybrid workforce.
The report, “The 2021 Duo Trusted Access Report,” indicates how organizations are enabling work from anywhere, on any device, by implementing controls to ensure secure remote access to applications, according to Duo Security, the maker of multi-factor authentication (MFA) and secure access solutions.
The “Trusted Access Report” by Duo Security, a Cisco brand, was released last month.
Passwordless shift
One of the report’s key findings is that over half of organizations are planning to implement a passwordless strategy.
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.
Duo Security believes passwordless controls will significantly improve the login experience for the vast majority of users, in turn leading to stronger security.
“We’ve now reached the point where the user experience is a security control in and of itself,” said Dave Lewis, global advisory CISO, 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.”
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Growth in biometric authentication
While the total number of Duo MFA authentications increased 39% in the past year, biometric authentications grew faster at 48%.
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 they carry in their pockets.
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.
Report methodology
“The 2021 Duo Trusted Access Report,” is based on data from over 36 million devices, over 400,000 unique applications, and roughly 800 million monthly authentications from across Duo’s global customer base.
The report also features results from a survey of global IT decision makers.
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