Are Virtualized Systems Better???

May 2009

Virtualized systems can be a security risk: analyst. With companies looking for ways to cut their IT infrastructure costs, there is no hotter technology right now than virtualization. But those cost savings could carry a big price in compromised security if IT managers are not careful. That was the message from a Gartner Fellow in his “Securing Virtualization, Virtualizing Security” presentation the week of May 4 at Everything Channel’s Midsize Enterprise Summit in Miami. The Fellow’s argument is that most virtual machines being deployed by IT departments currently are not as secure as physical systems. Not that virtualization is inherently less secure, the Fellow was careful to say, but most virtualization technology is not being deployed in a secure way. Several times during his presentation the Fellow argued that many suppliers of virtualization and security technology are not providing the same kinds of protection they provide for physical systems. “The bad news is most of the big guys are still missing in action,” he said.