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Duo Protection for HackerRank for Work with Duo Access Gateway

Last Updated: August 10th, 2023

Duo offers a variety of methods for adding two-factor authentication and flexible security policies to HackerRank for Work SSO logins, complete with inline self-service enrollment and Duo Prompt.

Duo Access Gateway reaches Last Day of Support on October 26, 2023 for Duo Essentials, Advantage, and Premier customers. After that date, Duo Support may only assist with the migration of existing Duo Access Gateway applications to Duo Single Sign-On. Customers may not create new DAG applications after May 19, 2022. Please see the Guide to Duo Access Gateway end of life for more details.

Use the Duo Single Sign-on for HackerRank application to protect HackerRank with Duo Single Sign-On, our cloud-hosted identity provider featuring Duo Central and the Duo Universal Prompt.

Overview

As business applications move from on-premises to cloud hosted solutions, users experience password fatigue due to disparate logons for different applications. Single sign-on (SSO) technologies seek to unify identities across systems and reduce the number of different credentials a user has to remember or input to gain access to resources.

While SSO is convenient for users, it presents new security challenges. If a user's primary password is compromised, attackers may be able to gain access to multiple resources. In addition, as sensitive information makes its way to cloud-hosted services it is even more important to secure access by implementing two-factor authentication and zero-trust policies.

Duo Access Gateway

Duo Access Gateway (DAG), our on-premises SSO product, layers Duo's strong authentication and flexible policy engine on top of HackerRank for Work logins using the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0 authentication standard. Duo Access Gateway acts as an identity provider (IdP), authenticating your users using existing on-premises or cloud-based directory credentials and prompting for two-factor authentication before permitting access to HackerRank for Work.

Duo Access Gateway is included in the Duo Premier, Duo Advantage, and Duo Essentials plans, which also include the ability to define policies that enforce unique controls for each individual SSO application. For example, you can require that Salesforce users complete two-factor authentication at every login, but only once every seven days when accessing HackerRank for Work. Duo checks the user, device, and network against an application's policy before allowing access to the application.

Deploy or Update Duo Access Gateway

  1. Install Duo Access Gateway on a server in your DMZ. Follow our instructions for deploying the server, configuring DAG settings, and adding an Authentication Source.

  2. Add the attribute from the table below that correspond to the Duo attribute Mail attribute in the "Attributes" field when configuring your Active Directory or OpenLDAP authentication source in the DAG admin console. For example, if Active Directory is your authentication source, enter mail in the "Attributes" field.

    Duo Attribute Active Directory OpenLDAP
    Mail attribute mail mail

    If your organization uses other directory attributes than the ones listed here then enter those attribute names instead. If you've already configured the attributes list for another cloud service provider, append this additional attribute to the list.

  3. After completing the initial DAG configuration steps, click Applications on the left side of the Duo Access Gateway admin console.

  4. Scroll down the Applications page to the Metadata section. This is the information you need to provide to HackerRank for Work when configuring SSO. Click the Download XML metadata link to obtain the DAG metadata file (the downloaded file is named "dag.xml").

    DAG Metadata Information

Contact HackerRank for Work Support

HackerRank for Work does not enable SSO by default; please contact HackerRank for Work support to schedule a time to enable SSO on your account.

You should be on the phone with HackerRank for Work and logged into your HackerRank for Work account when SSO is enabled. Once support enables SSO you will no longer be able to log into HackerRank for Work with your password; you will need to configure SSO before logging out.

Enable HackerRank for Work SSO

Add the Duo Access Gateway as a new single sign-on provider for HackerRank for Work.

  1. Once support has enabled SSO refresh the HackerRank for Work page, click the User icon in the upper right-hand corner. Select Settings from the drop-down. Click SSO Settings on the left-hand navigation bar.

  2. Click Upload a metadata XML file under Idp Metadata Upload and select the dag.xml metadata file you downloaded earlier. The page will refresh and the Single Sign On Metadata URL will now be populated.

  3. Make note of the SSO Login URL. You will need to use this later.

    HackerRank for Work Single Sign-On Setting Edit

Learn more about HackerRank for Work SSO by contacting HackerRank Support.

Create the HackerRank for Work Application in Duo

  1. Log on to the Duo Admin Panel and navigate to Applications.

  2. Click Protect an Application and locate the entry for HackerRank for Work with a protection type of "2FA with SSO self-hosted (Duo Access Gateway)" in the applications list. Click Protect to the far-right to start configuring HackerRank for Work. See Protecting Applications for more information about protecting applications in Duo and additional application options.

  3. The Company Unique ID is located in your SSO Login URL you made note of earlier. Example: If your HackerRank for Work SSO URL is https://www.hackerrank.com/x/api/v1/sso/saml/4abcd567e89/sso your Company Unique ID is 4abcd567e89.

  4. HackerRank for Work uses the Mail attribute when authenticating. We've mapped Mail attribute to DAG supported authentication source attributes as follows:

    Duo Attribute Active Directory OpenLDAP SAML IdP Google Azure
    Mail attribute mail mail mail email mail

    If you are using a non-standard email attribute for your authentication source, check the Custom attributes box and enter the name of the attribute you wish to use instead.

  5. Click Save Configuration to generate a downloadable configuration file.

    Duo HackerRank for Work Application Settings
  6. You can adjust additional settings for your new SAML application at this time — like changing the application's name from the default value, enabling self-service, or assigning a group policy — or come back and change the application's policies and settings after you finish SSO setup. If you do update any settings, click the Save Changes button when done.

  7. Click the Download your configuration file link to obtain the HackerRank for Work application settings (as a JSON file).

    Important: This file contains information that uniquely identifies this application to Duo. Secure this file as you would any other sensitive or password information. Don't share it with unauthorized individuals or email it to anyone under any circumstances!

Add the HackerRank for Work Application to Duo Access Gateway

Before you do this, verify that you updated the "Attributes" list for your Duo Access Gateway authentication source as specified here.

  1. Return to the Applications page of the DAG admin console session.

  2. Click the Choose File button in the "Add Application" section of the page and locate the HackerRank for Work SAML application JSON file you downloaded from the Duo Admin Panel earlier. Click the Upload button after selecting the JSON configuration file.

  3. The HackerRank for Work SAML application is added.

    HackerRank for Work Application Added

Log in with SSO

If your organization enabled the Duo Access Gateway portal, log into the portal page using the link provided by your administrator. Click HackerRank from the dashboard to access the application.

You can also access HackerRank for Work by logging at the main HackerRank website and entering in your e-mail address. This redirects to the Duo Access Gateway login page. Enter your primary directory logon information, approve Duo two-factor authentication, and get redirected back to the HackerRank for Work site after authenticating.

DAG Login and Authentication Prompt

Congratulations! Your HackerRank for Work users now authenticate using Duo Access Gateway.

Configure Allowed Hostnames

If you plan to permit use of WebAuthn authentication methods (security keys, U2F tokens, or Touch ID) in the traditional Duo Prompt, Duo recommends configuring allowed hostnames for this application and any others that show the inline Duo Prompt before onboarding your end-users.

The Duo Universal Prompt has built-in protection from unauthorized domains so this setting does not apply.

Microsoft AD FS

Microsoft's Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) is a popular choice for SSO because it easily integrates with the AD identity store many organizations already have deployed. Duo's support for cloud applications and SSO drops in to an existing AD FS installation to provide secondary authentication after a user passes primary authentication (successful Active Directory logon).

If you don't already have AD federation running the first step is to install and configure Microsoft AD FS in your organization. Deployment Guides for AD FS versions 2.1, and 3.0/4.0 are available from Microsoft.

Once your AD FS services are up and running, the second step is to configure the SSO partnership between your AD FS service and the external cloud resource, in this case HackerRank for Work. Learn more about configuring HackerRank for Work SSO with AD FS at the HackerRank for Work support site.

After you have successfully configured and tested AD FS SSO login to HackerRank for Work using your AD domain credentials, you can then install the Duo AD FS integration. AD FS protection is included with Duo's paid plans.

With the Duo integration for AD FS installed, users pass primary authentication to the AD FS service as usual. Once primary authentication succeeds, users are forwarded to the Duo service for secondary authentication. After approving logon using one of Duo's authentication methods, the user is fully logged in to HackerRank for Work.

Other Identity Partners

Using a third-party SSO provider for cloud application access? Duo partners with leading cloud SSO providers like Okta and OneLogin to secure access with our strong and flexible authentication platform.

You can also use Duo two-factor authentication with CAS and Shibboleth on-premises IdPs.

Troubleshooting

Need some help? Try searching our Knowledge Base articles or Community discussions. For further assistance, contact Support.