Cisco Secure Desktop provides a secure environment (Secure Desktop Space) for your use. The Secure Desktop Space is an encrypted space in which you have an online session using a browser. It is transparent and fully secure, requiring only your browser for access. The Secure Desktop supports multiple locations from which you may log into the corporate server.
When you load the Secure Desktop, you are sometimes prompted to "install and run" the plug-in for it. Be sure to click Yes on the Security Warning dialog box:
When you initially download the secure desktop, you see the Cisco Secure Desktop prompt window. When you are ready, click Switch to the Cisco Secure Desktop.
At this point, the Secure Desktop is created and you switch to the desktop. Depending upon what your security administrator has set up, you may have different access when you are on the Secure Desktop. Once on the Secure Desktop, you see three icons at the bottom right of your desktop.
You can launch the browser by clicking Launch Browser. Your security administrator may have set up specific "Favorites" for you. You can also launch the browser by right-clicking the Taskbar icon and clicking Launch Browser. The Taskbar icon is a lock:
If your security administrator has enabled it, you can switch between the Secure Desktop and the untrusted desktop (referred to as the "Guest Computer") by clicking Switch Desktop. The two environments share access to the same computer, with a crucial difference, described below. You can also switch desktops by right-clicking the Taskbar icon and clicking Switch to Guest Computer.
The Secure Desktop can read any of the data on the host computer, but it cannot write to the hard disk. This is to preserve the security of your online session. The Guest Computer writes to the hard disk, including cached browser information.
You can close the Secure Desktop by clicking the Close icon, or by right-clicking the Taskbar icon and clicking Close Cisco Secure Desktop.
When the session is terminated or the configurable inactivity time-out period is met, the Secure Desktop sanitizes the system, disabling or erasing all data that was downloaded, inputted, or created in the Secure Desktop environment including file downloads, configuration changes, cached browser information, passwords entered, and auto-complete information. Essentially, this removes all traces of the Secure Desktop, and the session.
The Secure Desktop is designed to protect data on the computer that you are using either after a time-out period that your security administrator has set up, or after you have closed the Secure Desktop by choosing "Close Desktop". If the security administrator has set a time-out period, it tracks inactivity on the Secure Desktop; if you switch to activity on the Guest Computer and go beyond the timeout period, the Secure Desktop still closes. When the time is up, the session ends, the browser closes, and the Secure Desktop is erased. Your administrator can set this to be a very brief period, or an indefinite period, closing and cleaning the Secure Desktop only when you close the browser.
Once the Secure Desktop has been downloaded and installed, it appears as an entry in the Start menu. If you want to reuse the Vault, click Start>Programs>Cisco Systems>Secure Desktop and then enter the password with which you protected the Vault.
Depending upon the settings enforced by your security administrator, the Secure Desktop may close all other browser windows when the Secure Desktop is launched. Also, although you may launch multiple browsers within the Secure Desktop, your system administrator has probably configured it to close them when the Secure Desktop closes.