Kaspersky Lab Introduces Virtual Networking And Security Solution For VMware vCloud Suite 5.1

Kaspersky Lab recently announced its new solution to secure network traffic in conjunction with VMware vCloud Networking and Security. The new solution, which will be integrated within Kaspersky Security for Virtualization, will offer Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention technologies, providing agentless protection from network attacks.

Kaspersky Lab is working with VMware to provide IDS/IPS technologies using VMware vCloud Networking and Security, which enables customers to continue utilizing their existing investments in networking and security products, while realizing the efficiency and agility benefits of VMware cloud infrastructure through validated joint solutions “The Kaspersky Difference” gives network administrators the benefits of straightforward deployment, automatic protection of new virtual machines, mapping of both logical and physical computing structures, and automatic security updates, all managed by “a single pane of glass,” the Kaspersky Security Center administration console.

In addition to straightforward administration and management Kaspersky Security for Virtualization was designed with efficiency in mind, and delivers the a balance of malware protection and network performance with increased consolidation ratios for customers. All network traffic scanning is off-loaded to a single “virtual appliance,” ensuring organizations reap the maximum resource efficiency from their virtual environment.

This announcement enhancement follows Kaspersky Lab’s initial agentless security solution for VMware vShield Endpoint, introduced in April 2012. The addition of these new traffic-monitoring technologies further bolsters Kaspersky Lab’s security offerings for VMware virtual and cloud environments. Customers using Kaspersky Lab benefit from a single unified management platform to administer virtual, physical and mobile environments.

The New Challenges for Virtual Security
According to a global survey of businesses conducted by O+K Research in 2012, 81 percent of US companies run business-critical services in virtual environments.  Clearly, the benefits of virtualization can clearly be seen by businesses.  But while businesses rush to virtualize, many don’t fully recognize the security implications.  Of the same businesses surveyed:

• 53 percent of businesses surveyed in the US are not securing their virtual infrastructure
• 27 percent believe that the security risks in a virtual environment are lower or significantly lower than those for physical infrastructure

Moreover, businesses that plan to secure their virtual environments seem to have a “one-size fits all” attitude.  More than half of US businesses are either not interested in agent-less security solutions for virtual infrastructure, or are interested but not planning to adopt it. Only 17% of US companies (18% in Europe) have confirmed the implementation of such security for their virtual infrastructure.

What does that mean? Not only are an alarming number of businesses unaware of the security risks associated with virtual environments, but the many of the organizations that actually plan to implement security are using a less-than-ideal solution. Applying an agent-based solution to virtual networks – the same model applied to the physical network – can result in significant performance losses across the network. Instead of applying physical protection methods to virtual machines, an agent-less security solution eliminates the need for duplicated resources on each virtual machine, helping to optimize performance, reduce hardware costs and energy consumption, and provide detailed logging of security tasks to satisfy compliance auditing requirements.

QUOTES:
Nikolay Grebennikov, Chief Technology Officer
Kaspersky Lab
“For years, Kaspersky Lab has been talking to businesses about the need for advanced protection at all levels for their network infrastructure, and more IT managers have realized the need for protection designed specifically for virtual environments.  This latest Kaspersky Lab advancement brings expands our protection to include virtual machines and networks, and is the result of our ongoing partnership with VMware.  By working alongside VMware, Kaspersky Lab is committed to delivering the very best protection for customers while they explore new ways to optimize their business computing.”

System Requirements and Availability:
Kaspersky Security for Virtualization, combined with VMware vShield Endpoint, is compatible with the following VMware solutions:

• VMware vSphere 5.1 , VMware vSphere 5.0 or VMware vSphere 4.1
• VMware vCenter Server 5.1, VMware vCenter Server 5.0 or VMware vCenter Server 4.1
• VMware vShield Manager 5.1.0 or VMware vShield Manager 5.0.0;
• VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 or VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.0
• VMware View 5.0.0;
• VMware vShield Endpoint 5.0;
• VMware vShield Endpoint Thin Agent driver.

Kaspersky Security for Virtualization provides agent-less protection for virtual machines running on most Windows operation systems, including Windows 7; Windows Vista; Windows XP; Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; and Windows Server 2003.