Virtualization Security: Protecting Virtualized Environments

Securing virtual environments for VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft hypervisors

Virtualization changes the playing field when it comes to security. There are new attack vectors, new operational patterns and complexity, and changes in IT architecture and deployment life cycles. What's more, the technologies, best practices, and strategies used for securing physical environments do not provide sufficient protection for virtual environments. This book includes step-by-step configurations for the security controls that come with the three leading hypervisor--VMware vSphere and ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008, and Citrix XenServer.

• Includes strategy for securely implementing network policies and integrating virtual networks into the existing physical infrastructure
• Discusses vSphere and Hyper-V native virtual switches as well as the Cisco Nexus 1000v and Open vSwitch switches
• Offers effective practices for securing virtual machines without creating additional operational overhead for administrators
• Contains methods for integrating virtualization into existing workflows and creating new policies and processes for change and configuration management so that virtualization can help make these critical operations processes more effective

This must-have resource offers tips and tricks for improving disaster recovery and business continuity, security-specific scripts, and examples of how Virtual Desktop Infrastructure benefits security.

About the Author

Dave Shackleford is founder and Principal Consultant with Voodoo Security, Senior Vice President of Research and CTO at IANS, and a SANS senior instructor and course author. He has consulted with hundreds of organizations in the areas of security, regulatory compliance, and network architecture and engineering. He is a VMware vExpert and has extensive experience designing and configuring secure virtualized infrastructures. Recently, Dave coauthored the first published course on virtualization security for the SANS Institute. He currently serves on the board of directors at the SANS Technology Institute and helps lead the Atlanta chapter of the Cloud Security Alliance.