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PC Lockdown Must Achieve Business Benefits

All organizations agree that locking down desktops allows IT to control and protect the entire distributed desktop environment. This practice reduces system vulnerability by allowing end users to use only the applications and desktop functions that are deemed safe. However, to be a worthy business policy, lockdown must support true cost savings.

What might be the adverse effect created by locking down your environment? In theory, operating a least privileges environment offers more control, which, should lead to a decrease in IT support costs. However, all too often the support calls merely shift from being related to unstable PCs to end users who cannot perform basic business functions. So, the end result is that true savings has not been achieved.

To attain TRUE savings, fortunately, a strategy already exists for operating a least privileges environment beyond the typical all–or-nothing approach. A privilege management product, such as what Viewfinity offers, allows organizations to flexibly manage administrator privileges so that the lock down policy does not impede business and end user productivity. This newsletter offers thoughts by industry leader, Dwain Kinghorn, as well as other resources provided by Viewfinity to help you further explore the capabilities that privilege management offers.

Leonid Shtilman
Viewfinity CEO


  • Organizations Are Increasing PC Lockdown
  • Terrence Cosgrove | Ronni J. Colville
  • 2 February 2010
  • As organizations develop their next-generation client computing environments as part of Microsoft Windows 7 planning, many are revisiting their PC control policies. Survey results and feedback from Gartner clients show that organizations are increasing the number of PCs that IT controls by removing administrative rights and using other measures to control PC configurations.
Key Findings
  • Few IT organizations are relaxing PC lockdown policies.
  • For most organizations, the optimal lockdown strategy is to lock down some users, but not all.
  • Windows 7 does not provide a comprehensive solution to allow users with legacy applications that require administrative rights to run as a standard user.

Viewfinity Content

  • Best Practices for PC Lockdown and Control Policies
  • by Dwain Kinghorn, former CTO of Altiris
  • End point lockdown is not a new practice. There are a number of advantages when endpoints are locked down so that end users do not have full administrative access on their systems.
  • Viewfinity Privilege Management
  • Viewfinity Privilege Management offers IT Administrators a flexible approach for controlling its corporate desktop and laptop environment. With this enhanced control over managing your environment, the number of end user support calls to the help desk are reduced.
 
A Case Study: Lathrop & Gage
"Like most large-scale law firms, we have many custom in-house applications that require us to look at creative ways to protect our desktops while still providing the application with the administrative rights it needs to run properly," said Ben Weinberger, CIO, Lathrop & Gage.