Atheris Labs achieves Zero Trust with Cisco DUO

Overview

In the rapidly evolving landscape of life sciences, the protection of intellectual property and clinical data is not merely a technical requirement but a core business imperative. Atheris Labs, a healthcare innovator with 125 employees, recognized that its growth and reputation depended on the integrity of its research data. As the organization expanded its digital operations, the limitations of traditional, perimeter-based security became a significant bottleneck. The transition to a more flexible, cloud-forward environment required a sophisticated approach to identity and access management.

Allnext Technologies engaged with Atheris Labs as a lead consultative partner to navigate this transition. The goal was to move beyond the obsolete model of trusting anyone inside the network and instead adopt a Zero Trust framework. This philosophy—never trust, always verify—ensures that every access request is fully authenticated, authorized, and encrypted before granting access. By deploying Cisco Duo and advanced identity security protocols, Allnext Technologies established a robust security posture that protects Atheris Labs against modern cyber threats while facilitating the high-speed collaboration essential to biotechnology research.

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Business Challenge

Atheris Labs operates at the intersection of high-stakes research and digital agility. With a workforce of 125 specialized professionals, the organization handles massive volumes of proprietary data, ranging from genomic sequences to clinical trial results. This information is highly valuable and represents the primary asset of the company. However, the existing security infrastructure at Atheris Labs was rooted in an aging architecture that focused on securing the office walls rather than the data itself.

Several critical challenges prompted the need for a total security overhaul:

1. Network Security Vulnerabiity

‍The shift toward hybrid work meant that employees were no longer confined to a single physical location. Researchers needed to access sensitive databases from home, hospitals, and partner laboratories. The traditional Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution was becoming a single point of failure and a source of significant user frustration. It lacked the granularity to distinguish between a secure corporate laptop and a potentially compromised personal device.

2. Increased Sophistication of Identity-Based Attacks

‍Atheris Labs observed a rise in phishing and credential-harvesting attempts targeting its research staff. Standard password-based authentication was insufficient to stop unauthorized actors who had obtained valid credentials. The organization needed a way to verify the identity of the user with absolute certainty, regardless of whether the password was correct.

3. Regulatory and Compliance

‍As a healthcare entity, Atheris Labs is subject to rigorous data privacy regulations. Maintaining compliance requires detailed auditing and strict control over who can access patient-related data and proprietary intellectual property. The lack of centralized visibility into user activity made it difficult to generate the reports necessary for regulatory audits.

4. Balancing Security with Speed

‍The scientific community at Atheris Labs moves quickly. Any security measure that added excessive friction to the daily workflow was met with resistance. The challenge for Allnext Technologies was to implement a solution that was invisible enough to keep scientists productive but powerful enough to keep the organization secure.

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Solution

Allnext Technologies began the engagement with a deep-dive assessment of the Atheris Labs environment. The strategy focused on three primary pillars: verifying user identity, establishing device trust, and enforcing adaptive access policies. The choice of Cisco Duo as the foundational technology allowed Allnext to deliver a unified experience across all these pillars.

Phase One: Identity Verification and Multi-Factor Authentication

‍The first step was the deployment of Cisco Duo Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Allnext integrated Duo with the existing identity providers at Atheris Labs, ensuring that every login attempt triggered a secondary verification step. This was not limited to just email or internal servers; Allnext extended this protection to every software-as-a-service application used by the team. By utilizing Duo Push, employees could verify their identity with a single tap on their mobile devices, significantly reducing the friction associated with traditional MFA methods.

Phase Two: Establishing Device Trust and Health

‍A major component of the Zero Trust model is ensuring that the device being used to access the network is as secure as the user. Allnext configured Cisco Duo to perform health checks on every device—whether managed by the company or owned by the employee. These checks ensured that the operating system was up to date, encryption was enabled, and a screen lock was active. If a device failed to meet these standards, it was blocked from accessing sensitive applications until the issues were resolved. This prevented compromised or outdated devices from becoming an entry point for malware.

Phase Three: Implementing Least-Privilege Access and SSO

‍To simplify the user experience, Allnext implemented Duo Single Sign-On (SSO). This allowed employees to log in once and access all their authorized applications through a secure portal. Behind the scenes, Allnext established granular access policies. For example, a member of the finance team would have access to billing software but would be restricted from accessing genomic databases. These policies were dynamic, meaning they could change based on the user's location, the security posture of their device, and the sensitivity of the application they were trying to reach.

Phase Four: Ongoing Visibility and Analytics

‍One of the greatest benefits provided by Allnext was the implementation of a centralized dashboard. This gave the Atheris Labs IT team real-time visibility into every access attempt across the entire organization. They could now identify patterns of suspicious behavior, such as multiple failed login attempts from a foreign country, and take immediate action. This level of transparency transformed security from a mystery into a manageable business metric.

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Conclusion

The implementation of Zero Trust security with Cisco Duo has fundamentally changed how Atheris Labs operates. By partnering with Allnext Technologies, the organization has moved from a reactive security posture to a proactive and resilient state. The project has proven that enterprise-grade security does not have to come at the cost of organizational agility.

Today, Atheris Labs is better positioned to defend against the evolving threat landscape. The risks of credential theft and lateral movement within the network have been dramatically reduced. Moreover, the organization has achieved a level of compliance that instills confidence in its partners and investors.

The consultative approach taken by Allnext Technologies ensured that the solution was not just a technical fix, but a strategic alignment with the business goals of Atheris Labs. As the organization grows beyond its current 125 employees, the Zero Trust architecture is designed to scale effortlessly, providing a secure foundation for the next generation of life sciences innovation. Allnext Technologies continues to serve as a trusted advisor, ensuring that Atheris Labs remains at the forefront of both scientific discovery and digital security.

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