Hosted desktop solutions essentially allow you to take your office PC with you wherever you go worldwide. They provide you with secure access to your business email, data and applications over the internet so you can work from the office, at home on the train or wherever you are in the world, as long as you have a connection to the internet. Hosted desktops can be accessed from any device (laptop, PC, smartphone or tablet) as long as the user has the correct username and password.
Hosted desktops are more secure than traditional desktops and all of the data is stored and processed on secure servers in external data centres. However there are a number of things you can do to make your hosted desktop solution even more secure, some of which we have outlined below.
Make sure it has spam and virus firewalls
Some people think that because virtual desktops are known for being highly secure, they don’t need to use antivirus or spam software. Unfortunately this isn’t the case. Hosted desktop solutions need protecting just like traditional desktop solutions, especially if they are being accessed from mobile devices.
The good news is that there is plenty of antivirus software available to businesses using virtual desktop environments. Work with Green Cloud Hosting and we’ll help you find the best software for your business and provide it via the cloud so you don’t have to worry about expensive license renewals and updates.
Does it have an online backup?
Another way you can increase the security of a hosted desktop solution is by ensuring it has an online backup. This will mean that if for some reason you lose all of your data, your provider will have copies of it backed up elsewhere.
Here at Green Cloud Hosting we ensure all of our clients’ data is backed up across multiple UK data centres using Cloud Backup software. We securely backup and sync all data in real time, preventing clients from having to run expensive servers in-house.
Make sure devices are secure
If your employees are going to be accessing their virtual desktops from their own devices, you need to make sure that they meet the hardware requirements to run virtual desktops and are completely secure.
Remember that implementing a virtualised desktop solution alone does not 100% guarantee a fully secured environment, especially if you have a BYOD policy, where employees are allowed to access the system using their own devices. These ‘guest’ devices need to be thoroughly checked, as they are still susceptible to malware like keystroke loggers and screen scrapers which can see what users input (e.g. username and password) and may grant hackers access to your system.
It is important that all businesses that permit BYOD have a security policy in place. This policy should outline exactly how users should access their virtual desktop from their device and what antivirus software and settings they must use.
Work with an experienced provider
Another way you can improve the security of your virtual desktop solution is simply by working with an experienced provider. Choose a reputable virtual desktop company that provides management and support services and have the peace of mind that your system and its data will be kept 100% secure 24/7. Dual replication as a minimum (we provide triple replication) plus a guaranteed uptime (We’re running at 100% and have been for the past 19 months). Our promise is 99.95%.
Conclusion
These are just some of the methods you can use to improve the security of your virtual desktop solution.
For more information about virtual desktop security or to enquire about working with Green Cloud Hosting, please speak to one of our advisors by calling 0800 193 3878.
