By Fredrik Brattstig @virtualbrat
Are you looking for a way to ensure business continuity without tampering with security? Have your co-workers been moved to home office? Read this blog post about the IGEL UD Pocket, and how you can turn any home PC/Laptop into a secure endpoint device for connection to our corporate apps and desktops, in the cloud or on-premises.
The IGEL UD Pocket is a small USB stick which you can use to boot ANY x86 based hardware into a IGEL fully managed endpoint. This means that you can turn your users home PC’s or private laptops into a tool for accessing the corporate network, desktops and applications. AND IT IS SECURE! You may ask yourself the question “Why the hassle of booting a machine on a USB stick, the users already have windows, or MAC OS or anything else, they just need to install a connection client software?”.
The response to that is YES, they could certainly do, though, there is always a but right? What if those machines doesn’t have the latest patches, maybe ransomware or using old unsupported versions of operating system in any way. Your company doesn’t have any control of those machines. Do you really want to have the risk of connecting those machines to your IT-infrastructure? Do you know for certain that viruses, trojans and other bad stuff can’t spread through your VPN connections, or through access software? I believe that the COVID-19 times we are in at present might lead to risky decisions.
Here you have a hint on how to create your own single device “UD Pocket” . What does that mean?
The UD Pocket from IGEL allows you to boot any x86 PC/Laptop, and the licensing mechanism allows you to move the UD Pocket between different machines making it a truly portable endpoint for cloud and on-premises workspaces. The UD Pocket doesn’t touch the underlying harddisk’s on the host computer (if you don’t specifically allow it to). Though, this requires you to have access to a IGEL manufactured UD Pocket. In these times, when there is a urgent need to provide secure access to the corporate workspace, potentially that can be a problem. In the video below you will see how you can create your own “UD Pocket”, from your leftover USB sticks. The limitation to this process compared to ordering a REAL UD Pocket is that this UD Pocket will be tied to a single machine, but hey, that is generally not a issue when you want to enable secure access for a home office user right?
Please note: The home made UD Pocket will be tied to the specific machine where it is installed, you shouldn’t spend time in preparing loads of UD Pockets for your users and send it away. In that scenario, order real UD Pockets instead.
This is not a official guide and the creation of the “UD Pocket” is not supported.
The IGEL OS does come with a free 90 day test license upon registering the installation, which certainly comes in handy in situations like this.
If you want to continue the home made UD Pocket after the 90 day trial, a license for this has to be purchased, and this should be handled by your central IT. Licenses can be easily transferred to the home office self made UD Pockets by utilizing the IGEL UMS management software and ICG (IGEL Cloud Gateway) . As a matter of fact, those components are installed in a matter of hours, on-premises or in ANY cloud.
In the video below I explain how to go from zero to a functional home made
single device UD Pocket. There are a few steps to be taken, though it is way better than doing nothing, and i believe that this is the easiest way to to enable a secure access for your home office users. Pay attention during the installation that you install IGEL OS on the correct destination drive. Good luck and stay safe out there!
With love
/Fred
VirtualBrat 