Security Mistakes to Avoid in Virtual Desktop (VDI) Implementation

Posted by Anand Kekre on July 13 2015

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI, is a technology that presents desktops or individually entitled applications from a central management server to remote users’ browser-enabled devices over the Internet, so that people have secure access to corporate data on individual’s own devices – enabling Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD). Virtualization technologies of VMware, Citrix and Microsoft are the leading solutions in this space.

VDI comes with advantages of virtualizations - flexibility, productivity, ease of use and the ability to support multiple platforms. It, to certain extent ensures security, end-user privacy, monitoring (knowing who is accessing what and from where) and auditing of virtualized resources (desktops and applications). But what happens to file security of corporate data being used by end-users on these virtualized resources. Is it protected from security risks and data loss events? Without a file security mechanism in place, people would still adopt the traditional means (like email and FTP) for sharing the most important corporate asset – files. Also, the use of consumer services like Dropbox cannot be ruled out as your end-users may be running what is called shadow-IT. Hence, though you think that the environment is protected, there are communication channels that may pose serious risks to corporate data.

Virtual Desktop VDI Security Vaultize

Further, even if you decide to provide enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) solution to your end-users for secure file sharing (as an FTP replacement or as a Dropbox alternative) with ability to replace attachments with secure links (for example, through Outlook Plug-in), do you have the right solution? Are your corporate files under your control when they land on third-party recipient’s devices? Would you know if your employees are sharing sensitive documents only with the legitimate people, and how these people in-turn are using your documents? Are they forwarding, printing or making copies? Do you have a way revoke access to documents or change the access rights even after recipients have downloaded these documents on their own devices? Will enterprise digital rights management (eDRM aka Information Rights Management or IRM) help me?

You need answer to all these questions before you claim your VDI to be successfully implemented. You need to know 7 secrets of successful enterprise file security and 6 big trends in enterprise file security market.

Vaultize can help you complement your investment in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and ensure end-to-end security and zero data leakage of corporate data. Vaultize enterprise file security platform provides file sync & share (EFSS), mobile collaboration and VPN-free anywhere access with built-in Enterprise Digital Rights Management (eDRM), Mobile Content Management (MCM) and endpoint data protection. It provides a holistic solution that is win-win for both IT and end-users. For IT, robust security controls and audit are essential; especially you are in regulated and security-conscious industries like healthcare and financial services. For end-users, it provides ability to seamlessly access, edit and share documents from any device (company-managed as well as BYOD) and from anywhere (within as well as outside corporate network).

You also would like to know 6 things to consider before buying enterprise digital rights management (DRM) and enterprise digital rights management (DRM) in the Era of Enterprise mobility .

Also, download FREE Byuer's Guide to Enterprise Digital Rights Management

Topics: Digital Rights Management (DRM), Compliance, File Sharing, Citrix, file security, BYOD

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