WinMagic, Inc. today introduced security software that encrypts virtual machines running on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platforms. Addressing the growing concerns of protecting critical assets stored within virtual environments, SecureDoc CloudVM is an enterprise encryption solution that offers support for Windows-based platforms running in public, private and hybrid cloud environments through application aware intelligent key management.

The application aware intelligent key management capability embedded within SecureDoc CloudVM offers a single pane of glass view into where and how encryption is being deployed. The solution increases visibility and strengthens data security within virtual environments by controlling the encryption key management system across a vast array of layers including endpoints, file servers, virtual servers, enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) solutions and Internet of Things (IoT) instances. SecureDoc CloudVM’s application aware intelligent key management capability alleviates the problems associated with protecting multiple encrypted layers and managing associated keys and credentials by providing unique key and policy management for virtualized workloads.

For almost two decades, WinMagic has made it easy to secure data with SecureDoc, a highly secure yet flexible solution that enables businesses to comply with privacy and security regulations by protecting sensitive data residing in laptops, desktops, servers and on removable media. SecureDoc provides customers with the most robust data encryption and security support in the industry by centrally managing everything encryption-related within the enterprise.

“As more and more organizations turn to cloud adoption for a cost-effective approach to scalability and efficiency in the workplace, there is an increasing focus on the lack of proper data security across public, private and hybrid cloud environments,” said James LaPalme, Vice President, Cloud Solutions at WinMagic. “SecureDoc CloudVM alleviates the anxiety associated with storing business critical data in the cloud. Through a cloud-agnostic approach to encryption, WinMagic is giving the control of key management back to the IT department, all while ensuring the protection and security of data stored in virtualized workloads.”

Key features and benefits of SecureDoc CloudVM include:

• Centralized intelligent key management: SecureDoc CloudVM offers a single platform manager of encryption from the endpoint, to the cloud, to IoT and beyond. All of this can be simply achieved across public, private and hybrid cloud environments storing virtual data, even alongside other full disk encryption methods.
• Windows protection: SecureDoc CloudVM offers full virtual machine encryption for Windows-only environments running in public, private and hybrid cloud instances.
• Compliance and auditing report capability: SecureDoc CloudVM enables IT departments to ensure that the way in which sensitive data is encrypted remains compliant based on regulatory and industry standards.

The new offering from WinMagic follows recently conducted research that further proves cloud adoption is on the rise, but sensitive data stored in virtual environments is not always secure. According to a WinMagic-commissioned survey conducted online by Spiceworks in December 2015 among 150 IT decision makers currently using or planning to use cloud computing services and solutions, very few IT decision makers believe their data is completely secure in either a private cloud (29%) or public cloud (11%) environment. However, when it comes to actually encrypting data stored in virtual environments, the most common approach to securing data is in encrypting network traffic (53%) – while only one-third encrypt or plan to encrypt data at the disk/device level.

“The data from this survey further proves that although cloud adoption continues to drive at the forefront of future and current IT investments, there is an apparent lack of confidence when it comes to whether data stored in these virtual environments is actually secure,” explained Mark Hickman, COO, WinMagic. “Ironically enough, although confidence in the security of both private and public cloud environments is low, the enterprise is still not doing enough to protect its data. SecureDoc CloudVM is a wake-up call to the enterprise; data encryption should be the number one priority when it comes to implementing a sound approach to securing data stored in cloud environments.”

SecureDoc CloudVM, which is available now for Beta with a full release in Spring 2016, is an extension of WinMagic’s flagship solution SecureDoc and the recently announced SecureDoc CloudSync solution that encrypts files at the endpoint before they are synchronized to EFSS services across a range of enterprise platforms including: Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. With SecureDoc, customers have deployed the solution to manage BitLocker, a popular encryption method from Microsoft; BitLocker users that leverage SecureDoc are able to avoid the handful of issues related to encryption such as password-reset and user provisioning challenges. SecureDoc can also manage other encryption methods, such as Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal drives, Apple’s FileVault 2 and SecureDoc’s own FIPS 140-2 certified software encryption. SecureDoc is therefore compatible with the most advanced storage approaches and common operating systems without experiencing any of the hassles typically associated with encryption management.