RSA Says Virtualization Involves Security Risks, Rewards

RSA today warned that organizations face complex security and compliance risks when they adopt virtualization, but added that those companies that succeed in managing the challenge will achieve a "security bonus."

The news adds to the warnings concerning security in modern businesses. Earlier this year, RSA, the security division of EMC, issued a report on hyper-extended enterprises, warning that the traditional walls of the business were being breached by complex supply chains, new mobile devices, and other factors.

Today's warnings are also about change.

"Because virtualization represents a paradigm shift in computing, organizations needs to invest time and effort in learning how to get it right. This means ensuring that the implementation aligns with internal compliance programs and enables organizations to meet government, industry and contractual obligations," said RSA's report, "Security Compliance in a Virtual World: Best Practices to Build a Solid Foundation."

The report provided specific recommendations for enterprise IT managers eager to improve security and visibility in their virtualization deployments. For example, the report recommended that IT managers insure their virtualization applications and platforms are hardened against attacks by, among other things, removing unneeded components from virtual machines. "Hardening checklists for virtualization platforms are available from several sources," the report said.

The report said that organizations must be able to track changes and have a change management framework. Technology, such as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, play a key role in tracking people and helping people decipher logs.

But technology is not enough, Bret Hartman, CTO of RSA, said in an e-mail to InternetNews.com. Read the rest at InternetNews.com.