Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Text-based session watermark

November 28, 2023

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Text-based session watermarks help to deter and enable tracking data theft. This traceable information appears on the session desktop as a deterrent to those using photographs and screen captures to steal data. You can specify a watermark that is a layer of text, which displays over the entire session screen without changing the content of the original document. Text-based session watermarks require VDA support.

Important:

Text-based session watermarking is not a security feature. The solution does not prevent data theft completely, but it provides some level of deterrent and traceability. Although we do not guarantee complete information traceability when using this feature, we recommend that you combine this feature with other security solutions as applicable.

The session watermark is text and is applied to the session that is delivered to the user. The session watermark carries information for tracking data theft. The most important data is the identity of the logon user of the current session in which the screen image was taken. To trace the data leakage more effectively, include other information such as server or client internet protocol address and a connect time.

To adjust the user experience, use the Session Watermark policy settings to configure the placement and watermark appearance on the screen.

Requirements:

Virtual Delivery Agents:

Multi-session OS 7.17 Single-session OS 7.17

Limitations:

Session watermarks are not supported in sessions where Local App Access, Windows media redirection, MediaStream, browser content redirection, and HTML5 video redirection are used. To use session watermark, ensure that these features are disabled.
Session watermark is not supported and doesn’t appear if the session is running in full-screen hardware accelerated modes (full-screen H.264 or H.265 encoding).
If you set these HDX policies, watermark settings don’t take effect and a watermark isn’t displayed in the session display.

Use hardware encoding for video codec to Enabled Use video codec for compression to For the entire screen

If you set these HDX policies, the behavior is undetermined and the watermark might not display.

Use hardware encoding for video codec to Enabled Use video codec for compression to Use video codec when preferred

To ensure the watermark displays, set Use hardware encoding for video codec to Disabled, or set Use video codec for compression to For actively changing regions or Do not use video codec.
Session watermark supports only the Thinwire graphics mode.
If you use Session Recording, the recorded session doesn’t include the watermark.
If you use Windows remote assistance, the watermark is not shown.
If a user presses the Print Screen key to capture the screen, the screen captured at the VDA side doesn’t include the watermarks. We recommend that you take measures to avoid the captured image being copied.

The official version of this content is in English. Some of the Cloud Software Group documentation content is machine translated for your convenience only. Cloud Software Group has no control over machine-translated content, which may contain errors, inaccuracies or unsuitable language. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, suitability, or correctness of any translations made from the English original into any other language, or that your Cloud Software Group product or service conforms to any machine translated content, and any warranty provided under the applicable end user license agreement or terms of service, or any other agreement with Cloud Software Group, that the product or service conforms with any documentation shall not apply to the extent that such documentation has been machine translated. Cloud Software Group will not be held responsible for any damage or issues that may arise from using machine-translated content.

Text-based session watermark

November 28, 2023

Contributed by:

November 28, 2023

Contributed by:

Text-based session watermark

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