Only 19% of GCC companies are using dedicated agent-less security solutions to protect their virtual infrastructure – meaning many are throwing away one of the key advantages of virtualization by failing to make the most effective use of hardware resources. This is one of the findings of a survey conducted by Kaspersky Lab International Ltd.
among GCC IT specialists. It has also emerged that 63% of all GCC enterprises prefer or plan to protect virtual devices using the same security solutions as on their physical computers. Moreover, 60% of enterprises have admitted that they use a single security policy for physical and virtual environments, and only 21% of them see this as a temporary measure until a dedicated policy is developed for the virtual infrastructure.
Experts feel that this approach disturbs the balance between a virtual environment’s performance and security. In contrast to dedicated solutions, regular security solutions intended for physical devices require copies of signature databases and AV engines to be installed on each individual virtual machine. This may lead to adverse effects, including scanning storms and I/O storms that substantially slow down the host server – or even causes it to crash.
“The main reason for this is a lack of awareness in the business community about the different facets of securing a virtual environment. Despite the growing popularity of virtualization technologies, many companies appear somewhat careless in regard to IT security. Risks tend to be underestimated; many IT specialists share the misconception that virtual infrastructure is by nature more secure than it actually is. Last but not least, companies don’t know enough about dedicated security solutions,” says Vladimir Udalov, Senior Corporate Product Marketing Manager at Kaspersky Lab. “Our dedicated security solutions Kaspersky Security for Virtualization – a product that was developed with a special focus on protecting virtual environments and recently launched onto the market.”
Learn more about security for virtualization at Kaspersky Lab International Ltd. website.
