Your New Client Security Analyst

After seven years, my colleague Natalie Lambert is leaving Forrester. In the year that I have been at Forrester, she has been a good team-mate, sounding board for ideas, gleeful mischief-maker, and collaborator on shared research topics. I will miss her insights and energy, and I wish her the best as she begins her next adventure.

Natalie covered quite a bit of ground: client security, client management, endpoint virtualization, Bring-Your-Own-PC programs, full disk encryption and several other topics. While it would be impossible to fill her shoes, I am strapping on my hip waders and immersing myself in several of her research topics.

Specifically: henceforth, I will cover all client security topics for Forrester. These include:

• data leak prevention (DLP) on the client
• full disk encryption
• client security (anti-malware and anti-virus)

I am pleased to cover client security topics again. I wrote extensively about client security for three-and-a-half years before coming to Forrester. Among other things, I correctly predicted that Windows Vista would have no effect on the Windows security aftermarket — six months before Vista launched. And in 2006 and 2007, I anticipated the rapid move of anti-virus to the cloud, which we see today in Panda Security’s “collective intelligence,” in McAfee’s Artemis project, Trend Micro’s Smart Protection Network, and in new startups like Immunet. For cloud coverage of client security, I will partner with Chenxi Wang, but security topics that have anything to do with stuff sitting on endpoints, I will be your analyst.

I will not take on any of Natalie’s IT operations topics, such as BYOPC, mobile management, client management. These areas will be covered by other analysts on the infrastructure and operations (I&O) research team, chiefly Chris Silva and Ben Gray. Rather than speak for them, I will let them speak for themselves. I will collaborate with Ben and Chris on security strategies and best practices as it affects their topics.

I will also retain my coverage of data security topics, notably data leak prevention (DLP) and enterprise rights management. A few subjects will transition to my other colleagues on the Security and Risk team. We will likely announce details after we conclude those discussions.

In the meantime, Forrester customers who would like clarification on what the shift in security coverage means for you should contact their client services representative. I would be happy to speak with you! But the short answer is that not much is changing. You will talk to me rather than Natalie. She provided excellent coverage of client security topics, and I will strive to do the same.

 

[posted by Andrew Jaquith]

BYOPC: Remote Access For The Masses

(Reblogged from Natalie Lambert's personal blog I Brought My Own PC)

I was talking with a large enterprise today that has a remote access solution in place so that employees, not in the office, can access their applications from their home machine. So why, I asked, was BYOPC such a foreign concept? Think about it…a home machine is just another “unmanaged” device. This “unmanaged” device is simply requesting access to applications that will enable the employee to get her job done.

I think most organizations are over-thinking BYOPC. Yes, it may mean making more applications available to employees over Citrix XenApp (formerly Presentation Server, formerly Metaframe) or Microsoft Terminal Services, but it is not an entirely new architecture like people think. Most companies already have these types of solutions in place today for remote access and complex applications, so why not expand this implementation? Alternatively, many organizations are already looking at hosted desktop virtualization (also known as VDI) for contractors, offshore employees, call centers, etc., why not expand the implementation to provide a managed desktop environment to an employee-owned unmanaged device? I mean, isn’t this exactly what a contractor or an offshore employee has?

I know I am over-simplifying he technology underpinnings of (and the costs associated with) BYOPC, but the concept is not new. Yes, BYOPC will require you rethink the capacity of your remote access solution, but you don’t have to rethink the architecture. Honestly, my interest would be if Microsoft Direct Access can solve the capacity issues…what do you think?

By Natalie Lambert

Check out Natalie's research

You should follow me on  here

Will Advances In The Mac OS Tip The Scales For BYOPC?

(Reblogged from Natalie Lambert's personal blog I Brought My Own PC)

CNET recently reported that Apple’s upcoming Snow Leopard OS will support Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Why is this important for BYOPC? Because until this release, BYOPC presumed some amount of virtualization (in most cases desktop virtualization) to support the killer app — email. According to the CNET article, “Improved Exchange support will be integrated into Mail, iCal and Address Book in Snow Leopard, which means email, calendar appointments, to-do lists and contacts from Outlook will be viewable on your personal calendar, mail and address books. It also allows things like dragging and dropping contacts into iCal to schedule meetings, and your Mac will be able to discover time conflicts between personal and work calendars and change the meeting time and location.”

So, with virtualization no longer needed to support the killer app on a Mac, organizations will need to rethink how they will support users that want to use Mac’s in their native state for corporate activities. However, this is a huge step forward for employees wanting to use Mac’s in the corporate environment…IT can no longer hang their hat on email not being supported. This opens a few questions for me:

• will IT shops have the proficiency to support the Mac?
• will email work well on a Mac and live up to expectations?
• will this follow a similar trajectory as the iPhone with execs just demanding it?
• what is the fate of VMware Fusion and Parallels?

Regardless, my advice is this: Walk down to your local Apple store and offer the Genius behind the counter a job!

By Natalie Lambert

Check out Natalie's research

You should follow me on  here

VMware Tackles Application Virtualization

Today VMware announced its acquisition of application virtualization vendor Thinstall. For those not familiar with Thinstall, it is one of the leading app virtualization (and streaming) solutions providing customers the ability to isolate applications, eliminate application incompatibility issues, and simplify patch management. This acquisition will further VMware’s leadership in the client virtualization market by adding yet another virtualization solution to its portfolio. Now, VMware will offer customers a slew of desktop and application virtualization technologies across both mobile and non-mobile users in the enterprise.

For current Thinstall customers, this is all goodness. VMware has committed to keeping the product on the market with full client support and updates. VMware will, however, complete a re-branding exercise in the second half of 2008. Furthermore, VMware plans to keep in place all OEM partnerships, such as BMC software and LANDesk, which use the Thinstall software to add value to their client management solutions.

This acquisition strengthens VMware’s play in client virtualization – as if they needed it… By providing an app virtualization solution, VMware believes that they can accelerate the deployment of their desktop products VMware ACE and VMware VDI, as they will now offer a more comprehensive solution.

Another point for VMware.

By Natalie Lambert

Check out Natalie's research

Desktop Virtualization: Deploy For Security Today — Vista Tomorrow

So, we have been getting a lot of interest in virtualization over the past three months and the space seems to be heating up, so I wanted to quickly post my thoughts. Let me know what you think…Desktop and application virtualization is the future of the corporate PC environment. Why? Because these technologies address many of the manageability and security concerns that enterprises are expressing today. Vendors like VMware, Virtual Iron, and Citrix are marketing these technologies as a way to ease Windows Vista migration woes. However, when do you plan to upgrade? Our data shows that these migrations won’t happen in the mainstream until 2010. In reality, the benefits that users are seeing today come in the form of enhanced data security. When talking with security directors, their concerns are clear: protecting the data. So, justify virtualization today with security — and look to these technologies to help you with your migration later.

But, I would love to hear your thoughts. Are you hearing about virtualization on the desktop? Why are you interested in the technology?

By Natalie Lambert. 

Check out my recent research.