Cisco first announced its intent to acquire Duo Security – a firm offering unified access security – in early august. Today the deal was finalised and Duo Security is now officially a part of Cisco. Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco paid $2.35bn (£1.81bn) in cash and assumed equity awards for Duo Security’s outstanding shares, warrants and equity incentives on a fully-diluted basis.

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Duo Security is the frontrunner in their industry, providing unified access security and delivering multi-factor authentication through the cloud. Duo’s platform is able to confirm a user is who they say they are before granting them access to an application, which goes a long way in preventing unwanted guests from getting their hands on confidential information.

Duo Security’s product can be simplified into four parts:

The identity of all users is verified with Duo’s proven two-factor authentication before they are able to access corporate applications and resources. This is done through several methods. One way is by verifying someone through using their mobile phone.

Users will experience seamless and secure access to cloud and on-premises applications and servers. Duo Security grants users a secure access to all protected applications through a single, straightforward interface that can be accessed wherever you happen to be located.

With Duo Security, you can set policies to block or grant access attempts by user or device, based on contextual factors. If you have a low or high-risk tolerance level you can enforce polices accordingly.

Duo Security can check that your users’ devices meet your security standards before they are allowed to use your applications. The devices are labelled with a security score that is based on a number of factors. Users are instructed on how they can improve their score should they need to.

The addition of Duo Security’s expertise to Cisco’s vast cybersecurity platform was a strategic decision that will give existing users of Cisco platforms even more faith in the security of their data.

Cisco announced in a recent blog post that the acquisition of Duo Security will have 3 main benefits.

This is an exciting acquisition for both Cisco and their customers and with it will come great advancements in Cisco’s cybersecurity and threat prevention across a whole range of their platforms. It will be interesting to see how Duo’s software will continue to evolve as part of Cisco.

If you would like to read more about Cisco’s recent acquisitions, click here.