Enhance Security with NSX Cloud and Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure

While virtual desktops have successfully helped address security and operational challenges, IT organizations still have concerns about a growing threat landscape and an expanded security perimeter that they need to protect, especially in public cloud environments. Malware, phishing, and other emerging advanced threats can be used to compromise a virtual desktop to serve as jumping off point for an attacker to move laterally into the rest of the network.  Until now, customers could secure their VMware Horizon deployments in on-premises data centers with VMware NSX. We are happy to announce that NSX can now also secure virtual workloads deployed by VMware Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, providing a more robust security posture in cloud-hosted virtual desktop environments in Microsoft Azure.

It’s been a great year for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. This service offering allows customers to easily pair their own Microsoft Azure capacity with the intuitive Horizon Cloud control to quickly deliver virtual desktops and apps to end-users in a matter of hours. There is a lot of momentum from customers as they adopt Horizon Cloud to deliver virtual desktops and application from their own Microsoft Azure infrastructure to any device, anywhere.

One of the key features of the new Horizon Cloud release is the support for VMware NSX Cloud. We are particularly excited about this integration and the added security it brings to our customers – so let’s dive a little deeper on this topic.

What is NSX Cloud?

NSX Cloud delivers networking and security for applications running natively in public cloud environments such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS. NSX Cloud is an extension of VMware’s NSX Data Center technology that brings the NSX networking and security framework to cloud-native applications. NSX Cloud for Horizon Cloud on Azure brings enhanced security to virtual desktop environments, with policies that dynamically follow end users across infrastructure, devices, and locations.

Key Benefits of NSX Cloud for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure Environments

Secure Virtual Desktops Using Micro-segmentation

NSX Cloud protects virtual desktops and apps hosted in Microsoft Azure data centers by securing traffic between each VDI system (east-west traffic) and providing isolation for desktop pools. The NSX Cloud micro-segmentation policy can control traffic between desktops within Azure VNET/s as well as traffic destined to on-premises applications in a hybrid deployment.

Automated Policy That Dynamically Follows End Users and Desktops

Administrators can set policies centrally that dynamically adapt to the end user’s computing environment, with network security services that map to the user based on role, logical grouping, desktop operating system, and more— independent of the underlying network infrastructure. Policies follow the virtual desktops wherever they are moved across the cloud-hosted environment.

We are extremely excited to have support for NSX Cloud for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure and look forward to enabling customers with this powerful security solution in their cloud environments.

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