What's the most dangerous threat to your virtualized systems? Hint: it's not the latest zero-day exploit. The most pressing risk is IT staff who have full privileges in these systems. . Take the February 2011 attack by an IT employee who'd been laid off from a pharmaceutical company. The ex- employee logged in remotely and deleted virtual hosts that ran the company's critical applications, including email, financial software, and order tracking. The company sustained about $800,000 in losses from a few keystrokes, the FBI says. The link for this article located at Information Week is no longer available. . Recognize the risks associated with IT access in cloud environments by implementing essential security protocols and examining case studies.. Virtualization Security, IT Access Risks, Security Measures, System Integrity, Risk Mitigation. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Less than 20 percent of organizations using virtualization technology are adopting security tools to work in tandem with the software in order to decrease the risks that are inherent in a virtualized environment. This according to John Burke, Principal Research Analyst with Nemertes Research, who spoke Tuesday at the IT Roadmap Conference and Expo in Boston about the emerging threats posed to mobile and virtual environments.. Burke pointed to a woefully unprepared landscape of IT managers who have not yet confronted the serious risks that exist today. While 68 percent of workloads are virtualized, according to Burke's presentation, only a fraction of those using virtualization are adopting those environments in a secure way. Why? The common answer, according to Burke, is "We haven't seen any compromise yet." "That isn't a statement any audit team is going to take too seriously," he cautioned. Burke said IT departments are increasingly sacrificing the kind of security once seen in physical data centers in order to reap the benefits of virtualization. The link for this article located at CSO Online is no longer available. . IT administrators still lack readiness for threats in virtualized settings, with just a small percentage implementing essential protective measures.. Virtualization Security, IT Risk Management, Workload Security. . Dave Wreski
Cisco, NetApp and VMware announced a project to improve the security of virtualization deployments, with a focus on isolating applications that use the same physical network, server and storage resources in multi-tenant systems.. Cisco, NetApp and VMware Tuesday announced a project to improve the security of virtualization deployments, with a focus on isolating applications that use the same physical network, server and storage resources in multi-tenant systems. Virtualization security remains a work in progress The companies are providing clients a The link for this article located at ComputerWorld is no longer available. . Dell, EMC, and Red Hat announce a collaboration aimed at enhancing safety in cloud environments, focusing on data protection strategies.. Virtualization Security, Cisco Collaboration, Network Isolation. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
How does your organization handle virtualization security issues? Has it been something you've thought about for your customers? Security and regulatory concerns have some users warily eyeing the move to server virtualization. For example, during the past year, the Stanford Hospital & Clinics, part of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., has shifted about half of its applications from traditional server platforms to VMware-based virtual machines (VM) -- and found it strongly impacted decision-making on security. . "You change the character of the IT infrastructure," says Mike Mucha, information security officer at the hospital, about what he's seen in virtualization's impact. "There's uncertainty." "Virtualization tends to be an extension of the server component and it's led by the server team," Mucha says. But virtualization's switching aspect means the traditional network itself is altered, which Mucha notes has generated some "pushback" from the network and storage teams that also have to be at the table when it comes to making decisions. "The server people are taking on non-traditional roles, making decisions about network architecture," he says about virtualization's impact in his organization. The link for this article located at Network World is no longer available. . Expert John Doe highlights that evolving compliance and security hurdles are transforming how businesses approach server virtualization.. Virtualization Security, IT Infrastructure, Server Management, Security Issues. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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