Virtualisation 'requires tight security'

News Article - 13 April 2007
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Businesses which plan on deploying virtualisation to consolidate their servers may not realise that they could be opening themselves up to security risks, experts have claimed.

According to analysts at Gartner, overlooking security measures could increase the costs of virtualisation, which is to become the focus of hackers looking to access private information.

"Virtualisation, as with any emerging technology, will be the target of new security threats," said Gartner vice president Neil MacDonald.

He added that many businesses would wrongly assume that the approach to making virtual machines secure would be the same as with any operating system and apply their current configuration techniques and tools.

This, however, would not provide the machines with sufficient protection, he warned.

Virtual machines should be made secure before they are deployed; however Mr MacDonald stated that organisations should remember to update their security solutions regularly as tools and vendors evolve.

A recent study by the National Computer Centre found that about one-quarter of IT professionals believe their company chiefs are becoming more aware that security needs to be increased.

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