Security Opportunities in the Virtualized World
Until recently, virtualization in the SMB market has been lagging a bit behind virtualization in the enterprise. Channel partners have begun to virtualize SMB servers and roll out virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) across PCs, notebooks, tablets and smart phones. But in this environment of ubiquitous information access, SMBs (and enterprise organizations alike) are becoming increasingly concerned about protection, causing channel partners to take notice. With this in mind, what are the security opportunities for channel partners in the virtualized world?
If your customers are virtualizing their servers, it’s time to think about what security concerns need to addressed in this new type of environment. SMBs are vulnerable to threats, as our Internet Security Threat Report demonstrates – businesses with fewer than 250 employees are the subject of 18 percent of all targeted attacks. To keep SMBs safe, preventing malware infections that can bring down a virtual machine and cripple a network is a good first step. It’s important to maximize performance in virtual server environments without sacrificing powerful security that can protect against the broad spectrum of highly sophisticated and constantly evolving threats, including malware, zero-day attacks and rootkits.
While antivirus is a natural place to start, there are additional security technologies designed to deliver extensive protection along with operational cost savings. With multiple VMware integrations, Symantec enables joint customers to protect their virtual and business-critical applications with data loss prevention, IT risk and compliance, data center protection, security event management and endpoint protection solutions. These product integrations deliver stronger security, scalability and cost reductions for rapid services delivery and enhanced business agility for organizations moving into the cloud.
Perhaps your customers are introducing VDI to ensure that customers can access their Windows applications from any device. So, how do you actually lock down and secure those environments? Look into comprehensive security solutions that your customers can apply at the hypervisor or virtual machine manager (VMM) level to protect virtualized servers. Deploying security within the virtual desktop as well as on the device that is accessing the virtual desktop is another critical step. Finally, instruct your customers to enforce strong password policies while educating them on the current threat environment to avoid becoming the victim of a targeted attack.
With more partners virtualizing SMB servers and pursuing VDI projects, Symantec supports its partners so that they can leverage security opportunities in the virtualized world. We remain committed to helping our partners differentiate themselves from the competition and maximize their sales with Symantec.
For further information from Symantec on security in the virtualized world, please visit Symantec SMB and Symantec Solutions for Virtualization.
John Eldh is VP of channel sales for the Americas at Symantec. Monthly guest blogs such as this one are part of The VAR Guy’s annual sponsorship program. Read all of Symantec’s guest blogs here.
