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Anil Desai | Apr 21 2008 2:57PM GMT
There are some inherent security advantages related to virtualization: VMs are self-contained, isolated, operating systems that can be configured with limited network access. Most platforms allow you to create granular controls on which users and administrators can access and manage VMs. However, VMs do contain their own OS’s which must be properly managed. Apart from the standard tasks of keeping OS’s up-to-date, verifying security settings, etc. there are also some virtualization-specific security issues. The greatest security risks, in my opinion, come from a lack of management. I recommend creating an organized process for deploying new VMs and ensuring that IT has oversight over all resource usage. Organizations should put together policies for moving, copying, and uniquely tracking VMs. Virtualization-aware enterprise management software can help automate this for production deployments.
KevinBeaver | Apr 22 2008 6:13PM GMT
They can be a single point of failure. This is compounded by a lack of physical security and disaster recovery plan. Make sure you have both.