How do you secure a virtual desktop environment?

Securing central environments like Terminal Server (with or without Citrix) has always been a challenge due to the fact that many people are accessing the same computer. Worst case you have to have multiple Terminal Server farms to adapt to different security needs. This requires complex configuration and management.  The challenge is the same when it comes to VDI.

A successful and cost effective VDI implementation requires as few images as possible running in stateless/non-persistent mode. Traditional desktop management tools is not enough.  Traditional security based around the device will also fall short. Since the user's desktop now runs in the data center, knowing the physical location of the user is critical.

This also brings us to another question; how do you troubleshoot an environment where desktops reverts back to the previous state when the user's log off? More about this in my next blog article.

What you need is dynamic context aware computing. Settings, configuration and security based around the user's context will ease the adoption and management of virtual desktop infrastructures.

In this movie I demo context aware security to comply to some security regulations where applications only are allowed to run at specific physical locations. By having a context aware and dynamic VDI environment, changes in the user's context (in this case the location) will automatically update the workspace and make sure security regulations are followed.

Please watch my previous video about User Workspace Management to get more details about the concept of context aware computing.

/Patrik