Colaboot: A Cloud-based Diskless PC Booting Mechanism

TL;DR

Colaboot is a cloud-based diskless booting system that allows enterprise PCs to boot from a single OS, enhancing security, consistency, and ease of updates across all workstations.

Contribution

It introduces a new standard called Colaboot for centralized OS management and diskless booting in enterprise environments.

Findings

Reduces attack surface by centralizing OS management.

Ensures consistent and easily updatable desktop environments.

Potentially lowers resource usage on individual endpoints.

Abstract

Recent increases in endpoint-based security events and threats compelled enterprise operations to switch to virtual desktop infrastructure and web-based applications. In addition to reducing potential hazards, this has guaranteed a consistent desktop environment for every user. On the other hand, the attack surface is greatly increased because all endpoints are connected to the company network, which could harbor malware and other advanced persistent threats. This results in a considerable loss of system resources on each individual endpoint. Hence our work proposes a standard called Colaboot that enables machines throughout a company to boot from a single operating system in order to address these problems and guarantee a consistent operating system environment that could be easily updated to the most recent security patches across all work stations.