Review: desktop security on a stick

BeCrypt’s Trusted Client is a complete user environment on a USB memory stick, designed to let mobile workers connect securely with corporate resources using any PC with an internet connection, and also edit office documents.

Available since January, Trusted Client 2.1 is a customised version of Linux that is supplied on and boots from a USB Flash drive. It locks out any local drives on the target system, enabling the user to work securely from any unmanaged PC. It leaves no data behind afterwards.

Version 2.1 is designed to work more flexibly as a thin client, and also supports dual-factor authentication using hardware such as smartcards. It works with common SSL VPN appliances to create a secure tunnel back to the corporate LAN for access to web-based applications and server-based remote desktop sessions.

We tested the Trusted Client on a Dell Precision M2300 mobile workstation, and found it booted much faster than Windows does from the system’s own hard drive. A few seconds after pushing the power button we were faced with a prompt for username and password, and once we had correctly entered these, it was just another few seconds before the Gnome desktop was displayed.

The desktop is quite spartan, holding little more than links to the FireFox browser and a Remote Desktop Client for a Terminal Services session. With our test laptop hooked up to the IT Week Labs network, we were easily able to connect to a session on a system running Windows Server 2003, and found the experience exactly as you would if accessing from a desktop PC or a thin client terminal.

We were also able to connect using Wi-Fi with the Dell laptop, but the wireless adapter was not recognised on a second laptop we tried, so potential buyers should check it is compatible with their company systems.

For offline productivity, workers can create and edit documents using the OpenOffice.org suite, which is also installed on the Trusted Client’s USB drive. Documents saved to the Home folder on the desktop are stored on the USB drive, and so are not lost when the user’s session ends.