PolicyPak
Taking Management of Applications and Security Settings to the Next Level

In 2007, during Microsoft’s biggest event, TechEd, a technology enthusiast asked a great question to Jeremy Moskowitz regarding why Microsoft’s Group Policy doesn’t work for third party applications. “As a Microsoft Group Policy MVP, I realized it was my mission to solve this problem and improve the Group Policy platform at large and increase administrator’s ability to secure applications and desktops,” recalls Moskowitz, Founder, PolicyPak. However, with companies adopting virtualization technologies like Citrix to deliver Windows applications and desktops, solving this problem were not an easy task. With more than 10 years experience in understanding, and consulting and teaching Windows and desktop management questions, Moskowitz established PolicyPak Software to solve this challenge.

Headquartered in Delaware County, PA, PolicyPak today ensures that every Windows application is managed efficiently using Group Policy. “With PolicyPak, applications’ security, pop-ups and configurations are tightly controlled when necessary—strengthening an already solid Citrix deployment,” says Moskowitz.The company also delivers settings to the client’s applications, performs UI lockdown, and automatic remediation for a huge variety of settings.

“System Administrators of clients who use Citrix expect to secure their applications. But with a long to-do list and shortage of time, this task becomes exhaustive,” relates Moskowitz. PolicyPak overcomes this challenge by deploying application, desktop and security directives.

Once application security settings are defined, PolicyPak Suite works with existing network architecture (like Group Policy) to push the settings onto users’ machines. The PolicyPak Suite comes in two editions with different delivery modes depending on the network and its requirements—the On-Premise Edition and the Cloud Edition.

The four components in the suites are PolicyPak Application Manager, PolicyPak Admin Templates Manager, PolicyPak Preferences Manager, and PolicyPak Security Settings Manager. “By using PolicyPak Application Manager, we have pre-configured Paks and hardened configurations for almost all common applications a Citrix admin might deploy. That way, administrators can immediately implement best-practices configurations for common applications and ensure those settings stay secure,” explains Moskowitz.

For traditional desktops, and those using Citrix, PolicyPak will ensure that applications, desktop settings and operating system settings are secure and compliant, even if users try to work around them

PolicyPak Suite is always working, even when a computer is offline.The Suite will simply reapply and remediate the desired settings—quickly and quietly. One of the key features of PolicyPak products is their flexibility. They are designed to fit in with the client’s systems, workflow, and existing infrastructure.

“The ‘Holy Grail’ problem was how application settings and Microsoft’s Group Policy settings could be delivered via the Internet. This has been achieved through the PolicyPak Cloud service,” remarks Moskowitz. PolicyPak Cloud enables both domain-joined and non-domain joined machines to get IT’s desired desktop, security, and application settings through the internet. It is also possible to license the On-Premise Edition of the suite to deliver settings to domain-joined machines, and then separately license the Cloud Edition to handle remote machines.

With Windows 10 and Microsoft’s next generation server coming out soon, PolicyPak is specifically making inroads to enhance the administrator’s abilities and user’s interactions with the desktop environment. “If that desktop is a traditional desktop or something more advanced using Citrix, PolicyPak will ensure that the application, desktop,and operating settings are secure and compliant, no matter what the platform is,” says Moskowitz. Nearly all customers mix the power of Citrix with Microsoft clients and other technologies. PolicyPak as a company has an overriding design goal to work with whatever investments the customer already—without to make it a win-win situation for all.