Like many of us, we need to support Windows servers when we are remote. Regardless of VM or physical servers, we aren’t sitting in front of a directly attached keyboard and monitor so we use RDP but security is a concern. That’s great but when you open up your server so you can log in, you also open it up to let anyone log in. That is certainly a BAD thing to do.
I’ve put multi-factor authentication in place on everything I can think of so needed a solution for these web servers. Microsoft offers MFA but, from what I could find, only for Azure hosted servers. That didn’t help me much.
What I came up with was DUO. It’s an easy system to install and manage and protects RDP sessions, which is what I was looking for.
Duo currently offers a free level of their service, which is helpful for those of you willing to test it out. I took advantage of this when testing my lab. Of course, if you have a large number of remote users, you will probably want to use their paid service but if you are a small shop, I found this to be a great solution. It also got a seal of approval from industry experts that I’ve worked with in the past and is their MFA solution.
Here is a link to the Duo page: Duo: Cisco’s Secure Access – Cisco
Check out my other blogs on cybersecurity. Cybersecurity Notes
- When Trusted RMM Tools Become the Attacker’s Backdoor – January 27, 2026
- Microsoft Integrates Sysmon Into Windows 11 and Server 2025: Pros and Cons – November 24, 2025
- Would You Ignore a 1-in-3 Chance of a $250,000 Loss? – October 23, 2025