How can you tell who is a federal employee when you’re at coffee joint or an airport? They’re the ones using bulky laptops, usually littered with asset tag stickers on the cover and desperately searching for an open electrical socket like a lost puppy. Or they’re answering e-mails on their Blackberry while texting their friends on an Android. The sad reality is this isn’t a bad joke; it’s the reality and dilemma of any federal employee attempting to work remotely.
As the next generation of iPhones and iPads roll out, federal employees are stuck pondering how they could possibly be productive using apps that don’t work with their federal jobs. There are two ways they could make use of these new devices: they can storm the CIO’s office and demand a repeal to HSPD-12 to go back to usernames and passwords. Or they can ask if Citrix is right for them.
On Monday June 16th 2014 Citrix released Receiver 5.9 for iOS devices. While we’re always excited to improve our product with every new version, this version of Citrix Receiver is a big deal for our Federal customers because it supports SmartCard authentication to virtual desktops and applications. You can now access any application or desktop from your iPad or iPhone securely. Moreover you can sign and decrypt emails by using your smartcard on the iPad or iPhone. You can even browse secure websites that require PIV or CAC authentication.
Citrix Receiver 5.9 operates without downloading any of your enterprise applications or confidential data to your iPad or iPhone (zero-data-at-rest). No harmful iPads can infiltrate your network because they become a mobile thin client. This is a dream come true! Finally DoD customers can be completely productive using Citrix Receiver on iPads or iPhones! You can download Receiver 5.9 on iTunes and be sure to check out this video demonstrating how this works for a DoD customer:
Getting Started
- Download Receiver 5.9 from the Apple Store onto your iPad.
- Connect a compatible smartcard reader and smartcard. Receiver 5.9 supports PIV and CAC smartcards.
- Configure Receiver 5.9 to access the StoreFront URL for your Citrix XenApp or Citrix XenDesktop environment. See complete requirements here.
If you do not have a XenApp or XenDesktop environment, download your free trial of Citrix XenApp or Citrix XenDesktop and setup XenApp or XenDesktop before proceeding. We’ve got some handy guides for XenApp 7.5 setup and XenDesktop 7.5 setup. Be sure to configure StoreFront for smartcard authentication. If you are using a NetScaler, then follow this guide to configure StoreFront.
If you already have XenApp or XenDesktop implemented, and with StoreFront 2.5 or above configured for smartcard authentication, then use the following steps to setup Receiver 5.9 for CAC or PIV authentication on your iPad:
Step 1. Download and install Citrix Receiver 5.9 on your iPad
Step 2. Connect your CAC or PIV reader to the iPad and insert your smartcard.
Step 3. Launch Citrix Receiver on your iPad, click “Add Account” and enter the URL of your StoreFront site.
Step 4. Toggle the “Use Smartcard” button so that it is green in color.
Step 5. Enter your PIN and launch your applications or desktops.
Tip: Make sure that the any root certificate and intermediate certificate installed on your StoreFront server is also installed on your iPad.
Citrix Receiver version 5.9 for iOS demonstrates Citrix’s leadership and commitment to enabling enterprises to be productive on any device and from anywhere. We now support SmartCard authentication on iOS, Android, Thin-clients, Zero-clients, and regular PCs and Macs. No other vendor offers as broad a portfolio of supported devices.