Cybersecurity once again made news on a frequent basis in 2018, where we saw hardware vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown, ransomware attacks like SamSam, and cyberattacks in social media, transportation, and communications industries. Exposed vulnerabilities and cyberattacks will likely continue to rise in 2019, which is why it’s crucial for IT and security operations to try and stay a step ahead when it comes to security, especially in the end-user computing space. We live in a world where employees expect flexibility in working anywhere, on any device, and getting access to apps on-demand. This is where Workspace ONE, the industry’s first intelligence-driven digital workspace platform, can help.
This year, we continued innovating across the Workspace ONE platform to improve employee productivity by enhancing user experience and simplifying IT administration by redefining modern management. In parallel, we were also laser-focused on helping our customers implement Zero Trust security for their digital workspace using Workspace ONE. As 2018 winds down, here’s a look at the top 10 Workspace ONE headlines that boosted security in the digital workspace this year:
1. Workspace ONE Intelligence – one of the biggest challenges in user, device and app management is lack of visibility and time spent on manual tasks. To help alleviate these pains, we introduced Workspace ONE Intelligence in the beginning of the year. Beyond improving user experience and optimizing resources, Workspace ONE Intelligence strengthens security and compliance across a digital workspace by providing visibility of security risks and patches, and then automation for security processes and policies.
Watch here to learn more about Workspace ONE Intelligence:
2. Workspace ONE Trust Network – The more data available for Workspace ONE Intelligence to aggregate and correlate, the greater the potential to improve security. This is one reason Workspace ONE Trust Network was announced earlier this year in tandem with Workspace ONE Intelligence. Through Workspace ONE Trust Network, customers will be able to leverage threat intelligence from an ecosystem of integrated partner solutions based on a framework of verification.
3. Workspace ONE partner integrations – In addition to the Workspace ONE Trust Network integrations currently underway, 2018 brought several Workspace ONE and partner integrated solutions to the market. To highlight a few:
- In April, we announced integration between Workspace ONE and F5 BIG-IP APM as a Gateway to help customers reduce risk of data loss with more access policies.
- In May, we launched a partnership with Okta to help customers accelerate their journey to the digital workspace, and have updated integrations throughout the year.
- In June, we integrated Workspace ONE with the Cisco Security Connector to provide greater compliance and protection for organizations with employees who work on iOS devices
4. Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) security enhancements – At the core of the Workspace ONE Platform sits Workspace ONE Unified Endpoint Management, powered by VMware AirWatch. There were several updates to Workspace ONE UEM, the most recent being Workspace ONE UEM 1810 and 1811. Some of the security updates in these releases include a SafetyNet Attestation API to assess the security and compatibility of Android environment, VMware Workspace ONE Tunnel support for both Android Enterprise and Legacy Android, and support for Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and TLS for SCCM connections in AirLift 1.1.
5. Security updates to Workspace ONE Apps – Workspace ONE UEM 1811 also introduced security updates to VMware Workspace ONE Boxer, including PIV-D support, NIAP certification (the industry’s first for secure email!), and Google G Suite support. We also introduced Workspace ONE Send earlier this year, connecting Workspace ONE Apps like Boxer and Workspace ONE Content to apps like Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint to quickly and securely pass files back and forth while respecting Intune DLP policies.
6. Privacy – Data protection was a hot topic this year with GDPR becoming enforceable in May. Workspace ONE has many management and security capabilities for users, devices, and apps that map to security and privacy use cases that can be relevant in GDPR context. One example of this is a new privacy consent flow that notifies users of what data is being collected by which app in Workspace ONE.
Watch here to learn more about the privacy consent flow module:
7. VMware Horizon – Providing end users access to virtual desktops and apps is another core fundamental piece of a digital workspace. This year, we saw security enhancements to Horizon, for example with Virtualization-based security (VBS) support on vSphere 6.7 and role-based access (RBAC) in App Volumes 2.14. Horizon Cloud saw security improvements by now supporting NSX Cloud with Horizon Cloud on Azure, helping secure virtual desktops using micro-segmentation and automated policies. Support for Horizon Cloud and Microsoft Azure Government, and security capabilities for Horizon Cloud, like disk encryption and support for RADIUS 2FA, round out additional security enhancements this year.
8. E8 acquisition – Leveraging user and entity behavior analytics is becoming critical in bolstering security for the digital workspace. To that effect, in March this year, we acquired the technology and team of E8 Security to help simplify management and security in the digital workspace. This an exciting technology that will help customers correlate data to accurately detect and respond to advanced threats using analytics, surfacing anomalies and suspicious behaviors.
9. Gartner Critical Capabilities for High Security Mobility Management Report – In September, Gartner published their Critical Capabilities for High Security Mobility Management report, comparing mobility vendors’ capabilities and use cases for high security. Workspace ONE was recognized by scoring the highest in 2 of the 6 use cases – high-security unified endpoint management and shared devices, while also scoring the 2nd highest in 3 of the remaining 4 use cases. This achievement helps validate the investment in security we are making to the Workspace ONE platform.
10. 2018 SIIA CODiE award – Workspace ONE was recognized as the best endpoint security management solution by SIIA in June this year, again helping validate the innovation and impact security has had within the Workspace ONE platform. We are also excited to share that Workspace ONE is a finalist for best data leakage prevention (DLP) solution and best mobile security solution in the 2019 SC Awards!
In a year packed with headlines for Workspace ONE, our investment in security clearly stood out. As we head into 2019, we thank you and all of our great customers for using Workspace ONE for your journey into the secure digital workspace. For more information on Workspace ONE, visit our VMware Digital Workspace Tech Zone.
