Devolutions 2021 Year in Review: Part 1

It is that time of year again when we invite you to kick off your shoes, relax in your favorite chair, play some festive tunes (like this lovely Harry Potter-inspired holiday music), and enjoy a recap of 2021 here at Devolutions.

Today, we will look at January through June, and then we will follow up with a look at July through December.

January

We kicked off January with one of our most important traditions: our CEO David published the annual “Devolutions 2021 Roadmap.” Just as they did in 2020, our teams came through and achieved every milestone on time — and in some cases, ahead of time. David will be releasing the Devolutions 2022 Roadmap in early January, so please stay tuned!

Also in January, we published a glossary of common Privileged Access Management (PAM) terms. We received some very positive feedback on this, and were delighted to learn that many of you shared the glossary with your non-technical colleagues and bosses, in order to help them better understand PAM-related vocabulary and concepts. No, it’s not quite as difficult as Klingon or Dothraki, but it can get a bit complicated for non-techies!

In January we also highlighted the biggest data breaches of 2020, and followed up with some key lessons learned from those attacks. The advice is certainly still applicable, and so we invite you to review and share that information to better protect your organization.

We wrapped up January by announcing that the open source password management solution Bitwarden is now integrated in RDM Enterprise.

February

In our part of the world, February is a really, really cold month. In fact, the average temperature in February 2021 was a chilly -7 C/19 F. However, inside Devolutions HQ (and in our various remote offices, since many of us were still working from home) things were heating up!

We started the month by sharing three use cases to help you get the most value and best results from our solutions: how organizations can increase security by enforcing specific MFA tools for Remote Desktop Manager users, how organizations can benefit from integrating Remote Desktop Manager with Password Hub Business, and how organizations can use Devolutions Server to improve security when authenticating Remote Desktop Manager. We invite you to download these use cases (they are in PDF format), and of course please get in touch with our Support Team if you need further assistance.

Later in February, we listed 5 quick cybersecurity wins for SMBs and 10 reasons to strengthen identity security with single sign-on (SSO). We also announced big changes with LastPass Free and invited affected users to try Password Hub Personal with Remote Desktop Manager Free. And since both the InfoSec and business worlds were buzzing about the enormous Solarwinds/Solarigate breach, we took a closer look at what happened and what might happen next.

For fun, our talented artist-in-residence Patrick created the hilarious Sysadminotaur #103, “Quantum Backup.”

March

March was another busy month at Devolutions. We highlighted how users can save time and improve control by applying group policies in Remote Desktop Manager, and we then answered some of the most frequently asked questions about Devolutions Server and Password Hub Business.

We also featured a very interesting article by Karime Ganame, the Founder and President of StreamScan. The article is called, Is an MDR the right solution for your organization? We highly recommend this article for SMBs that lack trained and experienced cybersecurity professionals on their IT team.

Also in March, we proudly announced that Devolutions’ Information Security Management System (ISMS) achieved certification per the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard. This milestone was the result of an exceptional team effort, from our senior management to developers, who work together to provide a secure and resilient environment for the development and support of our products and services.

And for laughs, Patrick created Sysadminotaur #104: Final.apk. It is SO true!

April

In April, we wanted to cheer everyone up a little by publishing a list of 10 Things in Life that Will Never Change — like the fact that Keanu Reeves was the chosen one, is the chosen one, and will forever be the chosen one.

We also shared a comprehensive tutorial on how to create a Password Hub Personal account and add it as a Remote Desktop Manager data source, and our VP of Business Solutions Maurice explored how to bridge the gap between authentication and authorization.

On the cybersecurity front, we published an update about the huge Facebook data breach, and we launched the second annual Devolutions State of Cybersecurity in SMBs Survey.

We were also very busy updating our suite of products and released version 2021.1 of Remote Desktop Manager, Remote Desktop Manager for Linux, Password Hub Business, and Devolutions Server. Plus, we introduced a few new features, such as the re-imagined user vault in RDM, and released new tutorials on how to launch RemoteApp with RDM in external mode and how to use quick connect in RDM 2021.1 for Linux.

After a hectic (but good!) first four months of the year, we counted on Patrick to put a smile on our faces — and as always, he delivered with Sysadminotaur #105: “Next Version.”

May

In May, we marked a sacred day on the geek calendar — May the 4th — by sharing 10 Odd and Fun Facts about Star Wars (including the factoid that, initially, Yoda was going to be played by a monkey who wore a mask and carried a cane…seriously, we aren’t kidding!).

We also marked World Password Day on May 6 by taking a closer look at cloud-based vs. on-premises password management solutions.

Our theme for Geek Pride Day on May 25 was Lord of the Rings, because it was the 20th anniversary of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring. Our celebrations included a very entertaining quiz on how well you know the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, followed by an article listing 5 reasons why Lord of the Rings is the BEST movie franchise of all time (such as the music!). Patrick also created THREE fantastic LOTR-inspired Sysadminotaur comics!

Regarding our products, we took a deeper look at some key features, including: Exporting/Importing Data Source Configurations & Entries in Remote Desktop Manager for Linux, Password Analyzer Report, and Password Hub Business PowerShell Module.

We were also thrilled to announce that Devolutions won three Global InfoSec Awards from Cyber Defense Magazine in the following categories: Privileged Account Security (Most Innovative), SMB Cybersecurity (Next-Gen), and Identity & Access Management (Next-Gen).

June

In June, one of our favorite community members, Germano Da Cunha Diogo, wrote an insightful article called 5 Ways That Remote Desktop Manager Supports Teams. Germano has been a loyal supporter and friend for many years, and we were so grateful that he took some time from his very busy schedule to contribute. Thank you again, Germano!

Also in June, we looked closer at some interesting new features: Launching Embedded or Undocked Sessions in Remote Desktop Manager for Linux, Live Thumbnails in Remote Desktop Manager for Linux and New Password Hub Family Credential Type: Azure Service Principal.

For cybersecurity, we looked at the dynamics of supply chain attacks and included important defense strategies. Plus, we revealed the 2021 edition of 20 Shocking Cybercrime Statistics.

The gamers out there will also recall that E3 happened from June 12 to 15, and Marc-Olivier published a detailed recap and review of what happened at the event.

And for laughs, Patrick created Sysadminotaur #107: Praise (poor Phil!).

Well, that’s a quick snapshot of some of the events and happenings that took place at Devolutions in the first half of 2021. Also, Part 2 is out right now, have a look at what happened from July to December.