Tresys Announces Desktop Virtualization Security Solution For High-Risk Environments

By VSM News Staff
published: Wednesday, June 18 2008

Columbia, Md. and BOSTON - June 18, 2008 - Tresys Technology, a provider of technology and services for customers with high security requirements, today announces the availability of Tresys VM FortressTM - a patent-pending secure desktop virtualization technology for organizations seeking strong security and operational integrity.  VM Fortress gives organizations with high-end security needs the ability to utilize desktop virtualization without compromising protection by strengthening the guest operations system and the virtualization software itself to withstand the most threatening of compromises.  VM Fortress provides a level of security high above most conventional requirements, which enables mission-critical organizations to leverage desktop virtual machine (VM) technology.   

"We are committed to applying the best security technology available to provide flexible solutions for some of the world's most critical IT environments," said Frank Mayer, president, chief technology officer and co-founder of Tresys Technology.  "For virtualization solutions, traditional security measures provide inadequate security for critical systems.  With VM Fortress, we enable dramatically stronger protection for virtual machines in a practical, yet easy to use, manner."

VM Fortress benefits and market differentiators include:

• Strong Endpoint Security: Providing strong, independent control over system resources by leveraging the flexible mandatory access control (MAC) features provided by Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) to limit damage caused by exploitable vulnerabilities in virtual machines

• Decreased Operational Costs: Removing the barrier of entry to desktop consolidation where security assurance is a high priority; leveraging stronger MAC security reduces the damage and costs to desktop environments should they become attacked

• Increased Data Confidentiality & Integrity: Providing separation for the user and the application on a per VM basis, ensuring that data is not leaked across VMs and that applications cannot interfere with each other while sharing the same hardware resources

• Increased Operational Integrity: Limiting the effects of attacks and errors, so that vulnerabilities in one VM cannot be exploited to gain access to other VMs or to the host operating system

• Ease of Management/Deployment:  Systems can be deployed over the network from a central installation server and VMs can be remotely downloaded on demand by the user

"Security of virtualized environments is often thought of in terms of cloak and dagger exploits, trench coats and the like, not in terms of the day to day operations of a traditional organization," said Dan Kusnetzky, principal analyst and president of the Kusnetzky Group LLC. "Although this vision seems exciting and exotic, it really isn't in line with the needs organizations actually have to protect their systems and their data. Tresys' VM Fortress offers a highly secure, virtualized environment based upon existing virtual machine technology. Organizations needing high levels of security for their highly sensitive information and applications would be well advised to evaluate this technology."

Ideal users of VM Fortress include organizations with a need for heightened information security and integrity across IT systems - including those in defense, critical infrastructure protection, financial/banking, utility, healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education industries. 

For additional information on VM Fortress, or to request a demonstration, visit www.tresys.com.  

About Tresys Technology

Tresys provides security solutions that enable customers to achieve greater success by making information technology systems more secure.   The combination of acclaimed research, development prowess and practical approach to security solutions has earned the company a distinct reputation in the security market.  Tresys has successfully delivered products and services that meet and exceed the needs of the most sensitive security missions, including those at defense and intelligence agencies around the world.  These accomplishments and continuous thought leadership are part of a strategy that is shifting the way governments and businesses approach sensitive security issues.  Headquartered in Columbia, MD, Tresys clients and partners include the U.S., U.K. and Australian Departments of Defense, IBM, General Dynamics, Red Hat and Cisco.