How a Talos Cloud Desktop is secured.
What we harden before handoff, how updates work, where our responsibility ends and yours begins. Written for the IT person evaluating us.
Hardened before handoff
Every desktop is built from the same documented procedure and checked before you receive it.
Encrypted at rest
The system drive is encrypted with BitLocker. The recovery key is delivered to you once, through a one-time link that destroys itself after it is opened, and we keep a copy in our password vault for recovery.
Remote access locked down
Remote Desktop requires Network Level Authentication, runs on a non-standard port, and presents a trusted Let's Encrypt certificate, so your employees never click through a certificate warning.
Brute-force protection
Failed sign-in attempts lock the account, and repeat offenders are banned at the firewall automatically. Passwords are at least 14 characters; our own administrative password is 26 or more.
Minimal attack surface
Consumer apps, widgets, promoted content and telemetry nags are removed from the image. Hibernation is off, and nothing on the desktop phones home to Talos.
Three accounts, least privilege
Employees work in a standard (non-admin) account. Your IT team gets a client admin account. We keep a Talos admin account for support, which your admin may remove; troubleshooting then becomes harder.
Two build options
Locked-down: clipboard, drive and printer redirection between the desktop and the employee's device are blocked. Standard: they are allowed. Choose at order time.
Updates around your hours
Many of your employees will work US hours from other continents. Updates are scheduled so they never hit someone mid-shift.
- Monthly security updates install three days after Microsoft releases them, giving broken updates time to be pulled.
- Restarts happen on Saturday at 3 AM, in the desktop's own time zone.
- On Friday, employees see a reminder to save their work, shown only when a restart is actually pending.
- Feature updates are pinned to a tested Windows version and move only when we have verified the next one.
- Every one of these settings is ordinary Windows policy. Your MDM can override any of it, and the Friday reminder switches itself off if you do.
Monitoring and availability
Every desktop is checked every two minutes from outside the data center.
- If a desktop stops answering, we are alerted and respond; you do not have to tell us.
- We target 99.9% monthly availability per desktop. If a desktop falls short, you receive a credit of up to one month of that desktop's fee. That credit is the full remedy.
- If a virtual server fails beyond repair, we restore it from the most recent nightly backup at no charge. If no backup exists yet, we rebuild it from our standard image.
- Admins receive an emergency phone number in the handoff document for outages. Tickets can be opened 24/7 and are worked during business hours, 9 AM to 5 PM Central.
Backups, every night
Every desktop is backed up automatically. You do not need to set anything up, and it costs nothing extra.
- A backup of the whole desktop is taken every night, currently between 9 PM and 1 AM Central, at a fixed time for each desktop.
- The most recent 14 nightly backups are kept. Older ones rotate out automatically.
- Backups live on separate storage in the same data center, so they use none of the desktop's own NVMe space.
- The backup is taken while the desktop keeps running; your employees notice nothing.
- On request we can also take a backup by hand, for example right before a big software change, and keep it until you tell us to remove it.
Restores, on request
You choose the night, we put the desktop back to it.
- Open a ticket naming the desktop and the night you want restored. One restore per desktop per month is included; further restores in the same month are quoted in advance.
- A restore replaces the whole desktop with that night's backup. Everything changed since then is gone, so save anything you need first.
- The desktop is shut down, restored and started again. It is offline for the duration, which depends on its size. We start restores during support hours.
- If a restore fails for any reason, the desktop comes back exactly as it was before we started.
- A desktop can only be restored to itself. Backups cannot be copied to another desktop, moved between locations or downloaded.
Who is responsible for what
Plain language. The Cloud Desktop Service Terms are the binding version.
Talos Hosting
- Keeps the virtual server running, reachable and monitored.
- Builds and hardens the desktop as described on this page, and documents every choice for you.
- Backs up every desktop nightly and keeps the last 14 nights. Restores a desktop to any of them on request, and offers a factory restore to the original image.
- Accesses a desktop only to keep the server running, or when you ask us to.
- Charges for custom builds or configuration work beyond the standard image, quoted in advance.
You, the customer
- Manage the desktop after handoff: users, software, settings and any MDM you connect.
- Keep copies of anything irreplaceable outside the desktop as well. Nightly backups cover the whole desktop, but a restore takes it back to that night and loses everything since.
- Keep account credentials safe and tell us when an employee leaves.
- Make sure the way the desktop is used complies with the laws of the country where each employee works, and with our Acceptable Use Policy.
- Avoid shutting the desktop down from inside Windows; restarts are fine. A shutdown powers the server off and only Talos can start it again.
What we do not do, stated plainly
No multi-factor authentication on remote sign-in is offered today. Protection relies on long passwords, account lockout and automatic banning of attacking addresses. If MFA is a requirement for you, say so when you order and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it yet.
No IP restriction or VPN requirement. Employees connect from wherever they are. If you need access limited to your office addresses, your IT team can add that rule on the desktop's firewall after handoff.
No file-level restore. A backup is the whole desktop, so a restore returns everything to that night, including files changed since. We cannot pull a single file out of a backup. For individual files, keep your own copies.
No restore time commitment. The desktop is offline while a restore runs, and the time depends on its size. We start restores during support hours and tell you when it is back.
No moves between locations after a desktop is built, and no downgrades of vCores, RAM or storage. In either case we build a fresh desktop to the new specification and help you plan the transfer of your files.