Cisco standardizes and automates workforce verification, cutting account recovery time from hours to minutes with Persona
Learn how Cisco transformed manual, inconsistent verification processes into an automated system that strengthens security and empowers employees
Cisco Systems is a global technology leader with approximately 86,000 employees worldwide. As one of the largest technology companies in the world and a defining force in enterprise cybersecurity and IT infrastructure, Cisco serves organizations of all sizes through products such as Cisco Duo, Webex, Meraki, Splunk, and Umbrella.
Problem: Manual workforce verification and inconsistent processes created security gaps and operational bottlenecks
Before Persona, Cisco's approach to workforce identity verification was entirely manual and varied significantly across teams.
Account recovery and verification for high-risk actions were labor-intensive: a help desk agent would open a case, schedule a video call, ask the employee to show their face and some form of ID, then make a judgment call about whether to grant access. While teams generally followed the same broad steps (video call, visual ID check, face match), there were no standard guidelines that everyone followed consistently.
"With different teams handling verification differently, it was hard to say we'd all met the same security minimums," says Rebeca Terán, technical project manager on Cisco's security operations team. "Standardization is really important for us. We need to make sure that one identity is protected the same way throughout the company."
In addition to the lack of standardized processes making it difficult to audit and ensure compliance, the manual process itself created operational bottlenecks. Help desk agents had to dedicate significant time to verification calls, pulling them away from more complex issues. And as social engineering attacks and operations such as Scattered Spider became more sophisticated, relying on individual agents to make verification decisions introduced risk.
For employees, the process was equally frustrating. They had to reach out to the help desk and join the queue — sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours — with no way to predict when their case would be resolved. The inconsistent requirements across teams only added to the unpredictability.
"We care about giving the right people access to the system," Rebeca explains. "But we also needed to make it easy for employees to verify themselves, rather than waiting for a help desk agent every time."
With different teams handling verification differently, it was hard to say we'd all met the same security minimums. With a global company, standardization is key.
Solution: Cisco automated help desk account recovery and high-assurance workforce verification with Persona
To address these challenges and strengthen its security posture, Cisco's identity and access management team began evaluating identity verification providers in early 2024. Led by Sarabjeet Rana, principal engineer responsible for IAM and authentication, the team used the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Identity Verification to identify potential vendors, shortlisted six, and sent detailed RFP questionnaires to each.
"We looked at not just the quadrant, but also the criteria of the evaluation and the pros and cons of each vendor," says Sarabjeet. "We boiled it down to about 50 questions focused on what we actually needed for workforce verification."
After reviewing responses from five vendors and conducting quantitative scoring across categories like core features, user experience, fraud controls, and admin interface, Cisco selected two finalists for a proof of concept.
Persona ultimately stood out for the following reasons:
Comprehensive coverage across geographies, languages, and devices
With employees across the world, Cisco needed a partner that could verify identities globally. Persona's coverage across 200+ countries and territories, combined with multi-language support, meant Cisco could deploy a single solution worldwide.
"We have all types of people within our workforce," Rebeca notes. "We needed something that was easy for everyone to use. Not just in English, but with multi-language support."
Persona's device flexibility also allows employees to verify on whatever platform makes sense for them (e.g., a laptop instead of a mobile phone) while Cisco maintains a consistent experience and security standard across all devices.
"Persona fully supports desktop and mobile verification, including a secure handoff between devices," Sarabjeet explains. "Persona ensures maximum flexibility to our users by providing seamless desktop to mobile handoffs. Using co-location validation, Persona eliminates cross-device vulnerabilities that commonly affect standard verification flows."
In IT, our leaders were really pushing to empower people to do their best work. We care about the security piece and making sure employees are validated before they do something. But we also want to make it easy for them to do it themselves.
One platform configurable across multiple use cases
As a global enterprise with thousands of employees across diverse business units, Cisco needed a partner that could handle vastly different verification scenarios, from routine help desk account recovery to high-assurance verification for teams with strict compliance requirements.
Managing these varying requirements would typically mean juggling multiple vendors or building custom solutions. Instead, Persona's Dynamic Flow lets Cisco serve custom verification flows that adjust friction in real time based on each use case’s risk level and requirements.
"Persona's configurability was key," Rebeca says. "We could set our own guidelines and integrate with our systems. It was a one-time effort to set up, and once configured, we were good to go."
With this foundation in place, Cisco began deploying Persona across three key use cases:
Self-service help desk account recovery
The first live use case focused on help desk account recovery. When employees get locked out of their Duo profile and contact AISERA, Cisco's AI-powered IT service management chatbot, it automatically triggers Persona's verification flow. The employee completes government ID and selfie verification, and, once verified, can add a working factor and get back to work.
"This was the very first self-service flow we've created," Rebeca explains. "Before, employees had to wait to connect with a help desk agent. With the integration, it's automated. They don't need to wait. In 5-10 minutes, they're good to go once they verify their identity."
With Persona, we've automated and standardized the process. Everyone goes through the same type of verification, whether they're a new employee or an existing employee who needs access.
IAL2-compliant verification for teams with strict compliance requirements
Cisco's Government Trust & Technology Services (GTTS) division works on federal contracts that require employees to be verified as US persons or citizens before accessing certain systems. When employees are assigned to GTTS teams, they must complete IAL2-compliant verification before gaining access. Before Persona, this verification was manual, creating bottlenecks as Cisco expanded its federal work.
Now, the process is both automated and flexible. Employees with US passports complete a streamlined verification, while those with driver's licenses are prompted to submit additional documentation, like a birth certificate, to verify their citizenship status and ensure compliance.
"We have certain teams that need to be IAL2 compliant," Rebeca explains. "With Persona, we've automated and standardized the process. Everyone goes through the same type of verification, whether they're a new employee or an existing employee who needs access."
To protect employee privacy, Cisco uses Persona's Cases to limit which support agents can view personal information. GTTS support agents can review failed verification cases and provide guidance without accessing unnecessary sensitive data.
Duo admin verification
Cisco also plans to use Persona to verify Duo admins on the security operations team. When edge cases require direct access to the Duo console to perform sensitive actions, admins must verify their identity through Persona before proceeding. This use case is planned to go live later in 2026.
The partnership between Persona and Duo — Persona powers Duo Identity Verification to help organizations defend against social engineering attacks — made this admin verification use case a natural fit. "Duo was inclining toward Persona as their first go-to-market partner," Sarabjeet says. "It aligned very well with both IT requirements and our roadmaps. And critically, Persona doesn't need full access to Duo. Duo calls into Persona's API, and Persona's access is limited to what's necessary to run identity verification. That made a real security difference to our team."
Close partnership
Beyond product capabilities, Cisco has valued Persona's partnership both during the initial setup and as the relationship has grown.
From the start, Persona's team worked closely with Cisco to ensure smooth implementation. "The Persona team has done a great job handholding us through implementation and helping our teams understand the product and set things up," Sarabjeet says. The admin interface can be intimidating because of its many features, but Persona's deployments team helped Cisco's various stakeholders navigate configuration and get up to speed quickly.
As the partnership has evolved, Cisco appreciates that Persona continues to listen and adapt. "One of the biggest things we appreciate about Persona is that they listen to customer requirements and are continuously innovating," Sarabjeet adds. "Persona adds features based on our needs. Not every vendor does that; they have their own pipeline. But Persona is listening and making the product more feature-rich. That's kudos to the team."
Persona adds features based on our needs. Not every vendor does that; they have their own pipeline. But Persona is listening and making the product more feature-rich. That's kudos to the team.
Results: Cisco cuts account recovery time from hours to minutes and standardizes security across its global workforce
Since implementing Persona, Cisco has streamlined its help desk operations and improved the employee experience.
Cisco hopes to automate thousands of support cases each quarter through Persona. Every case automated through Persona saves time for help desk agents, allowing them to focus on more complex issues that require human expertise.
Before Persona, account recovery meant lost productivity. Employees had to schedule video calls, wait for manual ID verification, and go back and forth with agents to resolve their case. "When a user opens a ticket, it's not handled right away; it can take three or four hours for an agent to reach back out," Sarabjeet explains. "With Persona, users can do it right away on their own." Employees can now verify their identity and regain access in as little as five minutes.
Perhaps most importantly, Cisco has achieved its core objective: consistent, auditable identity verification standards across its workforce. Whether an employee is in the US, India, or anywhere else in the world, they go through the same standardized verification process.
"People overall are just really excited for something that's standardized and automated," Rebeca reflects. "With so many people, wherever we can automate, it's always going to translate to some type of time savings, and time savings allows us to do different work — work that's more engaging and important."
These early wins have sparked interest across Cisco. Other teams are now exploring where Persona can address additional verification needs. "As we keep showcasing these initial use cases, other teams want to learn more," Rebeca shares. "We've been with Persona for a year, and we're really excited to keep growing and extending this use case everywhere throughout Cisco."
