Responses

Post 1

Virtualization is a kind of technology that allows for the creation of effective Information technology (IT) services with the help of resources commonly bound to hardware. It distributes its services and capabilities across different environment, using machines and a hypervisors software to separate virtual and physical environments from physical resources. Virtualizations may include data, desktops, and servers (Modi & Acha, 2016). Regardless of how prominent and dominant virtualization has become in many enterprises, it still poses numerous security risks.

How Virtualization May Create Its Own Security Vulnerabilities

 Virtualization is being used in various enterprises, as well as cloud computing which uses it as a base for technology. Nevertheless, there has been an increase in the demand for improved and better security for virtualization, and “despite having several vital advantages of virtualization, current implementations of virtualization have many vulnerabilities which bring additional security challenges to cloud computing” (Patil & Modi, 2019, para. 3). Therefore, due to the rapid increase in the vulnerabilities of virtualization, it has become even more critical to automate the process of managing and analyzing these weaknesses. Cloud infrastructure as a service (Iaas) and other service providers prefer to use protected and vulnerability-free resources in order to improve the service quality they provide to their customers.

There are various ways virtualization may create its own security risks. The nature of virtualization has made it vulnerable to various cyber-attacks. Platforms like the host and guest interactions that virtualizations/virtual machines provide, helps to amplify the weaknesses of virtualization which could be particularly detrimental to the virtual world. Also, hypervisor which is another platform that enables virtualization could be vulnerable to Denial of service (DoS) attacks due to the accessibility of botnets (Patil & Modi, 2019). Virtual machines are not adequately monitored which could lead to virtualization (VM) sprawl. Cyber criminals or hackers could easily take advantage of the lack of proper management or control of Information technology, which poses a security threat to virtualization.

 Virtualization also poses a severe security vulnerability to cloud computing, and “these vulnerabilities allow an attacker to affect the security and privacy of cloud resources as well as services. Thus, security and privacy are major concerns of the cloud” (Modi & Acha, 2016, p. 1194). It is quite difficult to narrow down what security threats virtualization has which could be regulatory or compliance issues as well as the spread of computer viruses. The privileged software that hypervisor brings makes virtualization even more susceptible to cyberattacks. A good example of this could be if the hypervisor needs patching. This could create so many vulnerabilities to virtual machines because it may require having to bring these machines down. Other common vulnerabilities that virtualization presents to cloud computing and other service providers include unsecured application programing interface (API) and data breaches. The flexibility virtualization offers to virtual machines has made it subject to numerous vulnerabilities. This is mainly as a result of how new virtual machines may begin with certain default services that could be taken advantage of by hackers or cybercriminals in the future.

In conclusion, a lot of organizations tend to use virtualization because it has numerous benefits like offering a simpler and faster way to retrieve important data and applications. As much as virtualization can be advantageous to information technology, it is also important to be mindful of the cybersecurity risks it can present. It is important to note that even for operating systems, “a hypervisor scheduler may be vulnerable to behavior by virtual machines which results in inaccurate or unfair scheduling. Such anomalies and their potential for malicious use have been recognized in the past in operating systems” (Zhou, Goel, Desnoyers & Sundaram, 2013, p. 534). In addition, in a virtualized environment security threats can begin both internally and externally which could ultimately lead to the bypass of certain security protection put in place. This could create even more vulnerabilities for virtualization. The need to address these weaknesses is critical to the success of virtualization in the future.

 

Post 2

In the last decade there has been a development of system virtualization as its application is finding more and more uses (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013). Virtualization dates back to 40 years ago and it is defined as: “The use of an encapsulating software layer that surrounds or underlies an operating system and provides the same inputs, outputs, and behavior that would be expected from physical hardware” (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013).

 Virtual Machine Monitor or Hypervisor are pieces of software that run alongside or under an operating system and are the software in charge of performing this virtualization (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013). As it is not dependent on the state of the hardware, it is needed more Virtual Machines that are the actual virtual environments on a single hardware (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013). The virtual machine is the equivalent of a physical one and various virtual machines on the same hardware (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013). There are various technological trends that system virtualization has which are increasing the complexity in the operating systems,  making it easier and faster to create servers and applications, increasing the cost of software systems and supporting hardware, being inexpensive and powerful, and providing with flexibility to their hardware  (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013; Hoesing, 2009).

Through the use of these multiple physical systems, some organizations can have different operational and security requirements and vulnerabilities (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013). There is a security risk for the data and processes on the system that have modern operating systems like Windows and Linux which can adhere more vulnerabilities to the computer (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013). There is also an isolation of Virtual Machines and when more of those machines are combined in isolation with different systems on the same network, they can have several implications for security (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013). One of the main issues and that needs to be avoided is when systems are being underutilized as the physical systems have a cost; the underutilization of computer systems comes in desktop machines and organizational systems (Hunh, Pearce, & Zeadally, 2013).

Furthermore, “virtualization risks may be considered in two broad categories: those risks present in a physical server environment that carry over to the virtual world and risks that are exacerbated or amplified with virtualization because of the speed and ease of deploying computing resources” (Hoesing, 2009). Others say that there is a 3rd category of risks which is a compiled software that performs the memory and network allocation of duties that are written by humans and due to that there can be discovered many flaws (Hoesing, 2009). A fourth category of risk is in the infrastructure inside the tools of virtualization which can have vulnerabilities and be affected the confidentiality or availability of it (Hoesing, 2009).

There are several virtualization tools in processors, storages, memories, and networks that reside on a host with an operating system that provides assistance with administration and management (Hoesing, 2009). If there are weaknesses in the operating system could impact in availability and confidentiality attacks and also it causes an attack and could harm the virtual machines (Hoesing, 2009). Likewise, “security tools and practices that worked in the physical world can be seriously compromised by the very qualities that make virtual machines so appealing- mobility, demand-bases provisioning, high utilization of individual physical servers resources, and the blurring of roles between system and network personnel” (Sturdevant, 2009).   Moreover, there are some negative impacts and unfavorable events with virtual environments due to the ease and speed that the new virtual machine is created (Hoesing, 2009). Virtual machines can be quickly created, used from a template, and cloned with applications installed on top of an operating system (Hoesing, 2009). It could also lead to duplication and creation of extra copies of them (Hoesing, 2009).

Some recommendations to avoid these risks are having a powerful administration to the operating system that include management software, browser, and remote access tools. Moreover, the login access to virtualization tools must follow the least privilege principle (Hoesing, 2009). Additionally, “staff skills must grow to meet the complexity of the more centralized resource allocation duties placed on the administrator of the virtualization tools” (Hoesing, 2009). Sever team members also need training and more communication with the physical network and the information security team (Hoesing, 2009). It is important as well to have recovery and backup strategies in order to include other components virtualizations tools such as host, configuration database, and management console (Hoesing, 2009). Finally, with today’s virtualization is important to assess the tools and procedures there are to evaluate mitigation of its risks to avoid other and costly issues and have approaches that could provide with assessments and access control to this virtualization systems.

References:

Hoesing, M. (2009). Virtualization Security Assessment. Information Security Journal: A global perspective. 18: 124-130. ISSN: 1939-3547

Hunt, R. Pearce, M. Zeadally, S. (2013) Virtualization: Issues, Security Threats, and Solutions. Retrieved from https://profsandhu.com/cs6393_s14/csur_virt_2013.pdf

Sturdevant, C. (2009). 10 THINGS you should know now about... VIRTUALIZATION SECURITY. (2009). EWeek, 26(12), 42.