RE: Security concerns cloud virtualization deployments

This article highlights the coming hangover that is due to occur, now that CIO's are past the courting stage of virtualization and now look to embrace/deploy it. As someone who's worked in both security and operations and now is responsible for the automation strategy for our 5 data centers, virtualization is simply another platform I must consider, no differently than any other, when it comes to security and availability. The key, for me, is the consistency of deployments. How can I ensure that the virtual servers have been deployed *exactly* as they are defined, according to corporate standards? We deploy all of our virtual environments from the same data center automation platform that we use to deploy patches, application upgrades and operating systems. These deployments are all done according to a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which are the result of shared best practices across the organization. This consistency allows us to feel that much better about the security of our virtual environments, cause at this point, it's configuration that pose the biggest risk, not some heap overflow flaw in ESX.

Click to read the article this is in response to.