Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Virtualization Security: The Early Stages of a New Battleground" report to their offering.

With the rush to adopt virtual technologies, the security of virtualization has become a primary concern - yet few understand the security implications of this disruptive innovation. In this report, EMA provides guidance for IT practitioners seeking to secure their virtual environments. With a simple, five-phase approach to virtualization security as the centerpiece of this study, EMA takes an initial look at virtualization threats and vulnerabilities, and considers the security benefits of virtualization. Market insight from EMA’s 2008 virtualization survey of over 600 enterprises takes a sampling of the steps organizations are - and are not - taking today to secure virtual environments. Until virtualized security measures mature, this report focuses on what enterprises can do today to secure virtualization and seize the unique opportunity to integrate security early in the adoption of this game-changing technology - before it’s too late.

The rapid adoption of virtualization technology has created multiple benefits for IT organizations. Advantages such as the reduction of cost through more efficient resource utilization are obvious; however, these benefits can quickly be negated if virtualization opens a door to a major security incident.

Many researchers have argued about the security implications of a migration towards IT virtualization. Some say that virtual solutions increase the risks faced by an organization, others argue that there is no impact at all, while still others argue that the implementation of virtualization allows organizations to actually reduce risk. The reality is that virtualization can do all of these, depending on the way it is designed, implemented and used. It is therefore imperative that IT managers have a high-level understanding of the security issues that can affect their virtual environments, and of the approaches that can address those issues. Through this understanding, enterprises can ensure that the delicate balance between functionality and security results in the greatest business benefit with the fewest risks. Moreover, executives can assure that their organizations take advantage of the opportunity that virtualization offers to put security at the forefront and thus avoid future security issues and costs.

In this report, an initial look at the emerging challenge of securing virtualization, as well the security benefits of this disruptive technology. The reader will be presented with an introductory view of threats and vulnerabilities affecting virtual environments, as well as recommendations for pursuing a simple five-phase process that can be tailored to any environment in order to implement virtual solutions in a secure manner. Through infrastructure consolidation strategy and design, administrative process management, network strategy and design in extending the layered security model, configuration management, and risk assessment, this five-phase approach addresses specific virtualization security risks in order to strengthen both the security and operational benefits virtualization offers the business.

Key Topics Covered:

- Threats
- VM Escapes
- Solution-Specific Threats
- Traditional Attacks
- Vulnerabilities
- Trusted Zone Spanning
- Network Blind Spots
- At the Heart of the Problem
- Vulnerabilities in Operational Deployment
- Configuration Issues
- Virtualization Sprawl
- Access Controls
- Administrative Errors
- Future Risks
- Recommended Practices
- Virtualization Security Benefits
- Architecture Redesign
- Configuration Management
- Application Isolation
- Incident Response, Forensic Investigation and Incident Recovery
- A Sampling of Current Practices in the "Real World"
- Extending Common Controls
- Where Perceptions May Clash with Reality
- Gaps and Lags in Adoption of Virtualization-Specific Measures

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