Network Security Needs. The main threat to virtualized networks is the theft of sensitive data. As well as disruption of business operations and loss of revenue. To prevent such incidents, network security should be helpful at the perimeter. Especially, on the host and in the virtual machine by using a variety of technologies.
What Are the Vulnerabilities of Virtualized Networks?
The main vulnerabilities of virtualized networks include:
1. Malicious attacks –
Malicious attacks are disrupting business operations or stealing sensitive data. The most common attack is a denial-of-service (DoS) attack that is launched through a TCP SYN flood attack. This attack attempts to overwhelm the server with TCP requests. And render it unable to respond to legitimate requests, causing users to be unable to access the targeted machine.
Other malicious attacks can cause unauthorized access to a virtual machine. Even within a host or between two hosts that are on the same virtual network (e.g., an attacker bypassing controls for a privileged account). These types of attacks can cause application failure, loss of data, or theft of sensitive information.
In addition, each VM is essentially a stand-alone system. Also, it is easy for malicious parties to gain access to one VM and use it. Further, as an entry point into others on the same network segment. As a result, network security should be present at each level of the environment: physical host(s), virtual switch(es), and virtual machines.
2. Failure –
Failover events caused by single points of failure are one of the main risks in virtualized environments. In general, any failure in a physical server or in its connections can result in failure for all connected VMs on that server or network segment, which can disrupt business operations and cost significant amounts of money in remediation efforts (e.g., lost revenue from down servers).
To mitigate this risk, organizations should deploy redundant servers and switches that are capable of responding automatically when failures occur so that business operations can continue uninterrupted. For example, if one switch fails, another switch should activate automatically to ensure that VMs continue to operate over different links when failures occur.
3. Security misconfiguration –
Because there are multiple entities at each level (physical hosts, virtual switches and VMs), there are many opportunities for security misconfiguration and gaps in protection against malicious attacks and other threats.
In addition, the complexity of the virtualized environment makes it difficult to ensure that all elements are properly configured, which can lead to security failures. Organizations should therefore ensure that all network elements are configured correctly and follow appropriate security policies.
The benefits of implementing network security
• Reducing operational costs – Implementing security in virtualized environments reduces operational costs by reducing network downtime caused by attacks or other problems. This reduces the need for manual intervention to address problems and increases the availability of applications and services.
• Enabling remote administration – Organizations should implement encryption controls so that administrators can remotely manage VMs without being concerned about unencrypted traffic being intercepted on shared networks such as local area networks (LANs).
• Minimizing unprotected ports – By using virtual switches, organizations can minimize the number of unprotected ports on each physical server. This reduces their exposure to attacks from malicious parties outside the network perimeter.