Authentication Security in Enterprise VPN Gateways
Does anyone here have hands-on experience setting up multi-factor authentication specifically for Cisco AnyConnect deployments? I am currently looking into the available integration options to see how they handle external authentication backends without adding too much complexity to the infrastructure.
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I have been analyzing our remote access setup recently because Cisco AnyConnect does not have native second factor enforcement. It simply passes credentials to the configured ASA or Firepower backend. If that backend only checks a username and password a stolen credential opens the network completely. Recent security data shows that VPN compromise is a primary initial access vector for ransomware groups like Akira or LockBit. The attack method is basic since they just harvest credentials and authenticate. A reliable barrier is an independent second factor. For our evaluation we looked at this guide https://www.protectimus.com/mfa-for-cisco-anyconnect/ to see how tokens integrate with the existing gateway. It seems that adding RADIUS or SAML layers is the only practical way to stop these automated infostealer attacks.