Multifactor Acquisition: Cisco Plans to Buy Duo for $2.35B

Networking giant Cisco Systems has agreed to buy authentication startup Duo Security for $2.35 billion in cash and assumed equity, the companies confirmed today.

Duo, founded in 2010 by Dug Song and Jonathan Oberheide, specializes in cloud-based multifactor authentication. Customers of the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company range from SMBs to major organizations, using its tech to verify users' identities by establishing trust in their identities, evaluating device trustworthiness, and facilitating secure application access.

Now Cisco wants to offer its customers the same as it plans for a future in the cloud.

"Cisco and Duo are aligned in the approach of designing infrastructure for the extended enterprise," said David Goeckeler, executive vice president and general manager of Cisco's networking and security business, in a press briefing on the news. "Users, devices, and applications are at the center of modern security architecture."

The acquisition was driven by three core reasons, he explained. For starters, it will let Cisco extend intent-based networking into multicloud environments. The company currently provides on-premises network access control through its Identity Services Engine (ISE); it plans to offer cloud-based access control by integrating Duo's SaaS model into its ISE product.

Cisco's focus is networking and enterprise security, Goeckeler said. Its intent is to securely connect clients on various networks to any application at a time when more apps are located outside the business and customers are adopting multi- and hybrid-cloud environments.

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