Shelbourne Reynolds Engineering Ltd enhance security with DUO

Shelbourne Reynolds Engineering Ltd has been designing and manufacturing farm machinery in Suffolk, England since 1972. Its commitment to innovation has leant itself well to the export market with over half of production being exported to more than 50 countries worldwide.

As a business that prides itself on an uncompromising approach to quality, Shelbourne takes its business processes and data security very seriously. Matthew Jarvis, IT Manager at Shelbourne, explains their decision to use Duo multifactor authentication on its devices. A multifactor authentication solution requires an additional security element, such as a one-time passcode or fingerprint, in addition to a username and password

Cyber security assessment

"We recently completed the cyber essentials assessment, which gave us a clear insight into our current security level and created a foundation for our cyber security strategy going forward. It highlighted the benefits of two factor authentication in multiple areas of the business technical infrastructure, to further protect the core services, business data and applications from the ever-increasing risks of compromised passwords and cyber-attacks," explains Matthew.

Shelbourne use a lot of different services including SSL VPN's and Office365 but primarily use Windows on premises. Matthew quickly realised that to secure the whole IT environment and 'get all end users on board with this project,' the business would need to implement a universal multifactor solution that integrates seamlessly into all their applications.

DUO stands out as a solution

"Upon doing our own research, DUO stood out like a sore thumb. Strident is a DUO partner and explained how we could integrate DUO into our environment. They configured our Active Directory Connect so our Windows Active Directory domain synced with our Office365. This ensured user passwords were the same for both services which has made things a lot more convenient for us in preparation for the rollout.

"We gradually rolled out DUO across all our applications. We only have one form of two-factor authentication, meaning we do not need separate authenticator apps or hardware keys for different applications. This makes the experience for the end user far more straightforward," adds Matthew.

DUO supports many authentication methods

Shelbourne has installed DUO on all its domain connected devices and integrated DUO with its Office365 and VPN clients. "One of the best things about DUO is the vast array of authentication methods you can use," says Matthew.

"If one method works for one user, it might not work for another. We use DUO push which works well with smart phones and even smart watches! If hardware authentication is required, we use the new YubiKey 5 Series Security Keys, which we configure for offline access for devices without an active internet connection."

Greater security without inconvenience

Matthew notes that with the ever-increasing risks of password compromises and cyber-attacks, adding extra authentication gives that extra level of security. "DUO was very straightforward and integrated seamlessly into all our applications. We rolled it out gradually which allowed us to test and thin out any small issues we had in the initial stages, but we have had little to no problems reported to us," says Matthew.

"From my own experience, I know two factor authentication can be a pain and sometimes inconvenient, but with DUO everything is covered under one solution, which makes the conversation with the end user a lot easier. This was the main reason we managed to get everyone on board as easily as we did!"

To find out more about DUO authentication, call Strident on 01473 835 280.