McAfee, Citrix deliver centralised security for virtual desktops

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 07 October 2010 22:34

Business IT - Security

One of the stumbling blocks for virtualised desktops is security - conventional anti-malware products aren't designed for this environment. A partnership between McAfee and Citrix has yielded a new and more efficient approach.

McAfee and Citrix have developed an interesting approach to providing antivirus software for virtual desktops. Rather than running a full antivirus product on each virtual desktop, MOVE (Management for Optimized Virtual Environments) AV instead uses a small (approximately 1MB) 'agent' program that redirects requests to the main software which runs in a separate virtual machine.

MOVE AV is initially available for Citrix XenDesktop, It initially works with hosted virtual desktops, but will be extended to include client-side VMs, integrating directly with the XenClient hypervisor.

The companies claim MOVE AV will increase user density by 60% by providing security as a centralised service. Apart from eliminating the unnecessary duplication of resources such as signature files, it also avoids the problem of multiple copies of the security software running on the same physical server attempting to download the latest updates at the same time.

Another benefit is that security can be managed in one place, rather than on the individual virtual desktops. Apart from administrative convenience, this also allows coordination such as choosing to run routine scans at times when the physical server is lightly loaded.

"While traditional security tools and solutions can get in the way of maximising the full power of virtualisation, McAfee is providing optimised security solutions specifically designed for virtualised environments," said Candace Worley, general manager of McAfee's endpoint protection business unit.

MOVE AV is the first product of the collaboration agreement reached in May 2010 between McAfee and Citrix.

The writer travelled to Berlin as the guest of Citrix.