The scary thing about Zero Day Vulnerabilities is that they are either unknown or there is a systematic delayed response to counter the threat. Virtual workspaces, such as those from Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware, are answering this challenge with workspaces that can easily be set to self-reset at user logoff or other interval.

Resetting virtual workspaces to the last known good image without vulnerabilities is an excellent way to rid workspaces of emerging threats such as Zero Day Vulnerabilities. It sounds easy on the surface but there is a little more strategy involved to keep your workspaces uninterrupted and users productive.

Two additional items are key in restoring pristine workspaces at login: 1) the user should be able to instantly recognize their desktop with persona settings that persist from session to session and, 2) the applications they need should be readily available.

The basics of restoring user personas’ is possible with profile tools but they have their shortcomings – often user profiles can still become corrupt and Windows user profiles are locked to a Windows version. There is also a lot of cached “junk” that typically goes along with the profile too that can increase your vulnerability risk and needlessly take up valuable storage. Liquidware’s ProfileUnity overcomes all of these challenges with enterprise ready “smart” user profiles that only contain mission critical user data, readily adapt to new Windows OS versions, and automatically restore in the event of a profile corruption.

Likewise, Liquidware’s FlexApp solution securely restores applications to user workspaces in seconds at login. When a virtual workspace is dynamically created by VMware Horizon, Citrix, etc., FlexApp automatically reattaches applications. This approach automatically deploys known good versions of the applications that users’ need to do their job. Applications are also easy to update as well and can be done at next user login (with a new pristine workspace) to avoid any user downtime. The big benefit is that base images stay pristine and clean and that’s a good way to stay ahead of Zero Day Vulnerabilities.

Zero Day Vulnerabilities are a challenge and one that looks like we’re going to be forced to live with. You can incorporate workspace strategies that will greatly mitigate and minimize your organization’s risk, including the following:

• Deploy pristine workspaces at every login or reset them at short intervals such as every evening
• Leverage “Smart” and flexible user profiles with ProfileUnity to ensure users’ mission critical user data is always readily available to your restored pristine desktops
• Invoke FlexApp to reattach apps that are securely restored to the last good version to keep users productive

Reach out to our team today and we’ll assist you with a methodology that will get you started with mitigating Zero Day Vulnerabilities with dynamic workspaces.