When Virtual is Harder than Real: Security Challenges in Virtual Machine Based Computing Environments

Authors: Tal Garfinkel, Mendel Rosenblum

Reference:
In the 10th Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems (HOTOS-X).

Abstract:
As virtual machines become pervasive users will be able to create, modify and distribute new ``machines'' with unprecedented ease. This flexibility provides tremendous benefits for users. Unfortunately, it can also undermine many assumptions that today's relatively static security architectures rely on about the number of hosts in a system, their mobility, connectivity, patch cycle, etc.\ We examine a variety of security problems virtual computing environments give rise to. We then discuss potential directions for changing security architectures to adapt to these demands.

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