Citrix VDI Provides Secure Remote Access to Windows Desktops
For decades, Citrix has been a cornerstone of enterprise security and remote access to Windows desktops. Organizations have long utilized solutions like NetScalers for secure network-layer access, and more recently, the enterprise browser has introduced critical security benefits at the browser layer, including DRM and data loss prevention. The acquisition of DeviceTrust further strengthened Citrix’s security offerings for customers.
However, a truly robust security posture requires a defense-in-depth strategy. For those unfamiliar, defense-in-depth strategies are centered on the principle that complete protection of an organization’s assets requires multiple security measures.
While Citrix provides a secure workspace for employees to access their desktop resources, it is critical the applications delivered to those desktops are secure throughout the application lifecycle, including packaging, deployment to employee desktops (in-flight and at rest), and while running on the desktop themselves.
Thus, containerizing your applications is essential to round out the security for your Citrix environment. That’s where Cloudpaging comes in.
How Cloudpaging Containers Strengthen Operational Security in Citrix Environments
One of the most significant security challenges is keeping applications up to date on supported platforms. Organizations can find themselves keeping unsupported Windows operating systems and Citrix VDA versions to continue leveraging stubborn legacy applications that can’t seem to run on modern systems.
Cloudpaging application containers ensure virtually any Windows application, including your legacy applications, can be securely packaged and deployed to Citrix desktops running the latest Windows OS without sacrificing functionality or performance.
Legacy Application Packaging Support
So, what does this mean in the context of legacy applications?
Cloudpaging application containers can be run in an isolated disposition in which the assets of the application delivered in the container are only visible to the application itself. Which means sensitive dated application binaries are only visible for the application that requires them. Applications can also additionally be set to run in a Windows compatibility mode of your choice. If an application is dependent on an obsolete OS component, it is possible to take that component from an OS it does work on, place it in the container and set that to run in the isolated disposition layer.
Customers have solved all kinds of compatibility challenges with Cloudpaging application containers, including delivering 16-bit applications with a containerized emulator to execute the applications on 64-bit Operating Systems in a managed secure manner, customers have delivered legacy runtimes such as:
- Dated Visual C++ runtime redistributables without exposing those system wide
- Open-source products like Open Web Start as an alternative to the now retired Java Web Start or alternative JRE products with limited visibility
- Legacy App-V packages can be automatically optimized with our Cloudpaging technology, simply by uploading them to the Cloudpager admin console
- Applications that simply refused to work on multi-session desktops or servers
Being able to deliver virtually any Windows application means Citrix teams can standardize on the latest Windows Operating Systems and Citrix VDAs and get away from the need to continue suboptimal practices like keeping unsupported Operating Systems and old VDA versions around just to supply legacy applications to employees.
Dynamic Application Deployments
Cloudpaging application containers also help maintain clean consistent environments, eliminating issues that arise through traditional application management methodologies, such as desktop configuration skew, application conflicts, and installation failures. By dynamically provisioning applications directly to Citrix desktops, you no longer require multiple desktop images or extra Citrix hosts to ensure employees can leverage all your applications.
Application updates, fixes, and even rollbacks can be delivered dynamically using containers and in real-time, completely independent of your desktop provisioning process. This agility allows organizations to:
- Expedite Patching: Instantly deploy security patches and updates for applications, keeping your organization secure and productive.
- Reduce Risk: Rapidly roll back applications (or groups of applications) if issues arise, making the entire patching process lower risk and less disruptive.
- Automate Updates: Using Cloudpager’s unique AI Packaging features, application update processes can be automated, ensuring continuous security and compliance.
Security is Built into Cloudpaging Containers
Beyond operational security benefits, the Cloudpaging container format itself provides substantial, built-in security advantages:
- Granular Isolation Control: Cloudpaging application containers provide granular control over the isolation of application components down to the file level. Greater isolation can be applied to sensitive legacy applications, whilst current applications can be permitted interoperability with the underlying system and other applications.
- End to End Encryption: All Cloudpaging containers are encrypted in-flight and at-rest. Additionally, the container cache can be uniquely encrypted per-machine basis, protecting every user’s application data at rest.
- User-Based Entitlements: Containers are assigned and virtualized per user. On shared systems, users without entitlements have no visibility of the application’s components (files, services, registry), dramatically reducing the attack surface.
- DRM Capabilities: Digital Rights Management (DRM) features can be enforced to prevent copying data into or out of the container, maintaining the integrity of both the endpoint and the containerized application.
These features work together to isolate applications, reduce exposure, and minimize the risk of lateral movement or data leakage.
Cloudpaging Containers and Citrix: A Unified Approach to Application Security
Pairing Citrix with Cloudpaging immediately enhances your security posture by encompassing the application layer, reducing the attack surface and enabling the secure delivery of legacy and moder applications. This combination allows organizations to expedite critical application patching in a reliable, low-risk manner.
The greatest security risk in any desktop environment, including those hosted using Citrix platforms, is the software employees interact with on the desktops themselves. The applications employees rely on and work with every day must be secured. Applying security solutions at the network and access layers while relying on products like anti-virus are not enough in the current enterprise security landscape. Tacking security in the application layer is key to enhancing overall desktop security.
To introduce more advanced capabilities to fortify the security of your applications (and thus, you Citrix VDI), check out Cloudpager; the first and only cloud-native application container management platform for Windows desktops.
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