Embotics, the Virtualization Lifecycle Management™ Company, today announced “Understanding VirtSec,” a new study that focuses on virtual server security issues inherent in IT environments. The research addresses threats posed by virtualization deployments and the technology that is available to tackle these emerging issues. Authored by David M. Lynch, vice president of marketing of Embotics, the white paper identifies immediate and potential security threats so organizations can plan accordingly.

Virtualization security is a wide concern for IT executives and Embotics’ “Understanding VirSec” summarizes the new threats and issues associated with server virtualization. The research, containing a wide range of user feedback, helps IT executives differentiate the potential future security issues from those that are present today, and offers recommendations and best practices to minimize these risks.

“Ensuring security compliance across a virtualized IT infrastructure has been a major pain point for most enterprises today,” said Chris Wolf, senior analyst of Burton Group. “The mobility and abstraction provided by virtualization adds incredible value but also brings with it potential risk. Tools capable of auditing, analyzing and forecasting security risks and potential compliance violations in virtual environments should not be considered management luxuries, but rather necessities.”

As virtualization deployments expand and become more complex, organizations are facing increased risk of data center security threats. Embotics’ “Understanding VirtSec” provides an overview of why IT administrators cannot rely on IT policies and processes that existed pre-virtualization, and how the impact of an uncontrolled environment in the data center is detrimental.

“In most cases, server virtualization has not faced the normal rigorous security vetting that data center technologies usually face. It’s a technology that entered the data center by the back door, under the guise of an operations tool with a significant ROI associated with server consolidation,” said Lynch. “This white paper will help IT managers understand the security issues that are inherent in this technology, and recognize how they impact their security profile.”