Virtualisation and Security should go hand in hand says Kaspersky Lab
According to the IDC¹, virtualisation and server consolidation will be the top priorities for CIOs in 2012. Certainly as these priorities change, so too does the role and focus of the CIO evolve and in line with this, the Mother City will be hosting the IDC CIO Summit this week – an event aimed at identifying how this role is evolving and highlights key areas that CIOs need to be focusing on, where Kaspersky Lab are once again proud to be part of this thought leading event.
Says Sergey Novikov, Head of Kaspersky Lab Global Research and Analysis Team; “The role of the CIO is certainly becoming a more complex one, especially if we consider the rate at which technology evolves. With virtualisation becoming key for many businesses and subsequently a focus, the issues of security in light of virtualisation need to become a consideration for CIOs, as, as with everything technology based, security measures need to be implemented. It is with this in mind that we are again thrilled to be at the Cape Town IDC CIO Security Summit providing insight and tools for securing ever expanding enterprise networks and looking at anti-malware security for virtualised environments, including virtual data centers, virtualised servers and desktops running a virtualisation platform.”
Considering the current economic uncertainties that businesses have and continue to face, it is easy to see why there will be a strong focus on virtualisation throughout 2012 – businesses today require technology to offer them greater efficiency, higher productivity, increased agility, reduced costs as well as a competitive advantage – all by products of a virtualisation IT model.
“A recent CDW² report indicated that small businesses are moving steadily towards a more virtualised computing approach. This is likely due to the benefits that virtualisation offers and in the South African market, where the majority of businesses are small medium sized enterprises, we will likely see the same move take place by CIOs, meaning that local businesses need to know and take the right security measures for a virtualised business model today,” adds Novikov. “There is a myth within the industry that the virtualisation approach is a more secure one and less prone to being targeted by malicious threats. This is a fallacy! While virtual machines may be less prone to threats relating to spyware and ransomeware, they are vulnerable to malware in various other forms such as Trojans and botnets.”
In fact, the National Institute of Standards and Technology³ states that virtualisation actually adds layers of technology, which can as a result increase the security management load. “It is evident then that security for a virtualised environment is a must and should not be ignored. With CIOs striving to align IT security objectives with those of the wider business and endeavouring to enhance business efficiency and agility, this conference promises to be one that offers insight and valuable information,” concludes Novikov.
The conference will be taking place at the The Westin Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa from 19th – 20th March 2012.
For more information visit http://events.idc-cema.com/eng/events/41751-idc-s-africa-cio-summit-2012?g_clang=ENG
¹ Virtualization Tops CIO Priorities In 2012: IDC, Information Week, http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/virtualization/232400150
² CDW Report: Growing Numbers of Small Businesses Gain Agility, Cut Costs with Server Virtualization, CDW, http://newsroom.cdw.com/news-releases/news-release-08-31-11.html
³ Security for Virtulisation, finding the right balance, Kaspersky.com/beready
