DELL INTRODUCES ZERO-DAY MALWARE PREVENTION FOR THIN CLIENTS AND VIRTUAL DESKTOPS, PROVIDING BUSINESSES HIGHLY SECURE VDI AND VIRTUAL WORKSPACE SOLUTIONS FROM THE DATA CENTRE TO THE EDGE

• Dell Data Protection | Threat Defense provides advanced threat protection for Windows-based thin clients
• Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise offers advanced threat protection, authentication and file-level encryption to Windows-based virtual desktops
• New security solutions work in heterogeneous environments, protecting Windows-based thin clients from Dell or any compatible manufacturer
• New security solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning against threat vectors including malware, advanced persistent threats and zero-day attacks

Dell Cloud Client-Computing, the No. 1 provider of secure thin-client solutions^[i] and the expert in VDI, today announced the addition of two new security solutions to provide organisations with advanced threat prevention that spans from the endpoints to the data centre for Windows-based thin clients and virtual desktops. Leveraging IP from its award-winning Dell Data Protection portfolio of security solutions, Dell is applying its endpoint security expertise beyond the PC to the thin client and virtual machines, to give customers an industry-leading approach to comprehensively securing their data.

“While other vendors depend on a ‘detect and remediate’ approach that alerts IT staff to an attack after the damage has been done,” said Jeff McNaught, executive director and chief strategy officer, Dell Cloud Client-Computing. “Dell employs a ‘prevent and protect’ approach that prevents these attacks from succeeding, and has been shown to be 99 percent effective against even zero-day and polymorphic malware attacks, well above the catch rate of traditional anti-virus products based on malware signature recognition^[ii].”

Dell Data Protection | Threat Defense for Windows-based thin clients and Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise provide a superior layer of advanced threat protection to an already secure computing environment, ensuring that all facets of an organisation’s Windows-based VDI environment are protected. Many organisations mistakenly believe that thin clients based on popular OSs are a ‘set and forget’ solution, and that they do not require maintenance and regular software updates. While data does not reside on the edge with a VDI solution, that does not preclude malware from potentially infiltrating a network through a locally-accessed web browser, USB stick or other locally connected peripheral device. With 95 percent of threats originating on an endpoint^[iii], typically due to employee error, spear phishing, malware embedded in attachments or web sites, all endpoints need to have advanced threat protection, regardless of whether the data resides on the endpoint or in the data centre.

Dell Data Protection | Threat Defense and Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise both feature advanced threat protection technology based on machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyse the files prior to their execution, and determine what is safe and what isn’t before they can even run. That means that they don’t rely on signature updates, and provide a much greater efficacy than traditional anti-virus solutions against the latest malware including ransomware and zero-day threats. Unlike other traditional anti-virus solutions, Threat Defense uses very little CPU and RAM resources, thus having no impact on end user productivity, which makes it ideal for use with thin clients.

Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise also includes authentication and data encryption to protect the data at rest or when it travels between people and devices. This additional level of protection is more effective than simple disk encryption, and prevents attackers from getting usable data in the event of a breach. This solution is available across all Windows virtual desktops running Citrix, Microsoft or VMware software, and provides organisations with a single, comprehensive solution to simplify management and compliance for overburdened IT departments. It allows IT departments to remotely manage all security components using a single, non-disruptive console, and easily generate compliance reports to satisfy industry standards including PCI DSS, HIPAA and HITECH. With this solution, Dell is the only tier one hardware vendor offering integrated authentication, encryption and advanced threat protection from a single source.

As many organisations have heterogeneous IT environments, Threat Defense and Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise can be deployed across Dell and non-Dell systems alike. Threat Defense will be available bundled with Wyse Windows-based thin clients, and will also be available for organisations deploying Windows thin clients from any compatible manufacturer, as well as Dell and non-Dell PCs. These solutions enhance the already robust Dell Wyse portfolio of secure thin client solutions that include virus-resistant Wyse ThinOS and zero clients, and reinforce the company’s commitment to provide the most secure compute environments available to enable safe and flexible productivity for users.