Asian Information Security Issues In The Virtualized Era

Some areas of the economy continue to grow despite the recession

. Items that are cheaper than some of their alternative activities (like video games), things that represent a cheap way to feel luxurious (like lipstick), and capital investments that ultimately deliver cost savings (preferably sooner rather than later), like virtualization in the Asian network operations environment, continue to grow.

Research house Gartner has said that the activity with the largest impact on information technology infrastructure until 2012 is virtualization. However, along with the benefits of virtualization comes a need to understand the impact on computer network security - or risk erasing the benefits in a single afternoon.

The reason that virtualization is making such big impacts on the infrastructure landscape, and creating such large savings and efficiencies for companies, is that it touches every aspect of the datacenter. Because of this pervasiveness, a comprehensive rethink of computer network security measures is also necessary.

One of the most crucial areas in ensuring data safety is considering the security options for the new virtualized operating environment, which expose novel attack areas that not all IT consulting firms are used to securing. Virtual machines use inbuilt technology like isolation and containment of data and threats, recoverability of the system, deception and availability.

To do this, Asian network infrastructure experts introduce a layer of abstraction between the physical servers and other hardware, and the virtualized system. This layer actually becomes a platform for attack, which many organizations aren't used to guarding against.

Another reason that Asian network security is so critical in a virtualized organization is that the host system houses multiple VMs - an attack on the host system would impact far more than just the single machine that current viruses and Trojans target. This is why checking with information technology consultants prior to beginning a virtualization exercise is crucial - the problem can be mitigated by deploying the servers directly on a lightweight kernel specifically designed for virtualization.

The correct kernel is one aspect of the security matrix, however not a solution in and of themselves. The highest proportion of traffic in many VOEs is intra-host, not across wired networks. Internal attacks could therefore be devastating to an organization. External perimeter firewalls and intrusion prevention systems are the traditional security methods, but are not useful against an internal attack of the sort which can be devastating to virtualized systems.

A host based intrusion prevention system is the preferred solution implemented by IT consultants and computer network security experts. Incorporated into the anti-malware suite of each virtual machine, and linked to the Security Incident and Event Manager (SIEM), a suitable data security solution is reached.

Obviously, adding this technology is preferable at the implementation of a virtualization project, rather than trying to update retrospectively. Asian network security and network operations experts can help ensure that a virtualized system is as secure as possible, with as little additional cost as possible.

by: Gregory Smyth

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