Government Technology - August 2008 - (Page 50)

security S TAT E | L O C A L | F E D E R A L Vulnerable irtualization can work wonders for an IT environment. Virtualization lets one computer do the job of many consuming less floor space, energy and operational costs than installing more hardware. These virtual machines can be managed remotely, and can store critical data and applications for disaster recovery purposes. But virtualization comes with a potential drawback. Specifically it introduces a new layer of software on top of the host machine or system, which creates additional infrastructure to manage and secure. Despite security concerns, however, virtualization’s here to stay. According to survey results Microsoft released in April, 71 percent of U.S. retailers use virtual tools to cut costs and gain greater infrastructure control. Experts agree other sectors, including government, will ride the virtual wave for the foreseeable future. As virtualization becomes common, security must adapt and evolve. IT professionals should ensure they don’t scale their virtual environments up higher than they can control. To obtain a manageable virtual environment, it should be built with clearly defined goals, architecture and set policies to gauge performance. B Y H I LT O N C O L L I N S | S TA F F W R I T E R Virtually Growing use of virtualization raises new cyber-security questions. j j Synopsis: Virtualization presents many benefits to the IT world, but people must be careful that their virtual networks don’t slip out of their control. Technology: Virtualization software, security. Contact: Mark Ramsey, manager of IT operations, Charlotte County, Fla., 941/7645542, mark.ramsey@ charlottefl.com. V Steps to Security Mark Ramsey, manager of IT operations for Charlotte County, Fla., said shutting down unnecessary services in the virtualized environment can help decrease cyber-attacks. “It’s probably more important in a virtualized environment, because of performance, that you eliminate unnecessary services from your servers,” he said. “If you don’t need Internet AUG_08 information services for some specific purpose on one of your servers, don’t install it.” There will be less activity to protect and monitor if IT managers shut off unneeded activities. Another benefit is the network will likely run better because it will take up less processing power. But securing a virtual network takes more than the efficient use of resources. There are three areas that are different between virtualized and nonvirtualized environments, according to David Greschler, director of integrated virtualization strategy for Microsoft. “First, customers need to secure the virtualization layer by ensuring they are running virtualized applications on a trusted platform,” he said. In other words, secure physical resources before running virtual systems on them. Second, IT staff should isolate virtual machines, Greschler said. One way is to segment virtual machines into groups — one set running on one piece of hardware and another set running on a different piece — based on function and level of importance. This way, if one operating system inside a virtual machine is compromised, it’s harder for viruses to infect systems running on other hardware. “Third, customers must monitor virtual machine-to-virtual machine traffic so that the only communications through the network [are] where policies can be enforced and traffic analyzed,” Greschler said. Sometimes it’s hard for people to track virtual machine activity. If they deploy additional virtual machines, they create another layer of machines to manage on top of the ones in their physical environment. This added 50 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - August 2008

Government Technology - August 2008 Contents Point of View The Last Mile Big Picture On the Scene Four Questions for... Net Gains A Government Technology® Industry Profile: CA CA Contents IT Network Management: State and Local Governments Face New Challenges MyFloridaNet Arkansas Department of Information Systems Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Government Tightens Its Belt Rocking the Vote High-Speed Portal Project On Track Wi-Fi on a Shoestring From Paintball to Video Virtually Vulnerable How It Works Products signal:noise

Government Technology - August 2008

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