Secure and economical workloads

To make security intrinsic to the digital enterprise, VMware (www.vmware.com) has announced a series of advancements at this year’s RSA Conference 2020 (www.rsaconference.com).  These include new VMware Advanced Security for Cloud Foundation, which will enable customers to replace legacy security solutions and deliver unified protection across private and public clouds; advancements to the VMware Carbon Black Cloud, which including automated correlation with the MITRE ATT&CK framework and upcoming prevention coverage for Linux machines; and new VMware Secure State auto-remediation capabilities to automate actions across cloud environments and proactively reduce risk.

In delivering the Keynote address at RSA Conference 2020, Sanjay Poonen, chief operating officer, customer operations, VMware said, “There has never been a more challenging and exciting time in security.  Attacker sophistication, security threats, breaches, and exploits are becoming more prevalent with no end in sight – and with cloud, new applications, pervasive mobility, IoT, and data at the edge, the problem is only getting harder to solve.  There must be a new approach to cybersecurity – one that is built-in, unified and context-centric.  We believe the best strategy and approach is to make security intrinsic, enabling organizations to leverage their infrastructure and its unique capabilities across any app, any cloud and any device to better secure the world’s digital infrastructure – from networks, to endpoints, to workloads, to identities, to clouds.”

“Our members rely on us to deliver best-in-class financial services,” added Mark Fournier, Systems Architect for the U.S. Senate Federal Credit Union.  “VMware has put our team in a position to deliver consistent innovation, evolve our digital transformation and keep our data better secured amidst an attack landscape that’s constantly evolving.  VMware’s ability to deliver and help secure our digital infrastructure gives us the confidence that we’re staying ahead of the latest threats in an environment where cybersecurity is built into the fabric of our enterprise, not just bolted on.”

Data breaches are increasingly devastating, often wiping out billions in market capitalization and costing public company CEOs their jobs.  Damage rarely results from a single compromised server.  It results from attackers moving laterally (East-West) through the datacentre from a single point of compromise, often for months, as they locate, harvest and exfiltrate sensitive data.  Most security professional know this, but struggle to adequately protect their data centres.  A survey commissioned by VMware and conducted by Forrester Consulting (www.carbonblack.com/resource/to-enable-zero-trust-rethink-your-firewall-strategy) shows that 75% of respondents depend on perimeter firewalls, however East-West security controls need to be different than those for traditional perimeter (North-South) security as 73% of respondents believe their existing East-West traffic is not adequately protected.