Security benefits of virtualization

Introducing well-planned, deliberate, and well-executed virtualization into an infrastructure delivers some very compelling security benefits.

Note

	"The abstraction of IT resources that masks the physical nature and boundaries of those resources..."
	-- Virtualization as defined by Gartner's IT Glossary (http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/virtualization).

Let's be clear about one thing with regard to this common trope representing virtualization as a deceptive masquerade: security through obscurity does not work. The use of secrecy for the design or implementation of a system to provide security is a failing proposition.

In enumerating the security benefits of virtualization, this section purposefully avoids suggesting that abstraction and the obfuscation it permits are an effective security strategy.

We'll see as the chapter develops that none of the security rewards promised by virtualization advocates can be realized without a good understanding of networking...