One in Three Businesses Unaware of Benefits of Specialized Security for Virtual Environments, reveals Kaspersky Lab

A survey from Kaspersky Lab has found that almost three quarters (73%) of companies are relying on standard Endpoint Security-class solutions to protect their virtual environments, which could lead to reduced performance and create an excessive load on their systems. A third of businesses (34%) remain unaware that specialized security products exist.

According to the findings of a recent survey¹, only 27% of companies use security solutions which are specifically adapted for virtual environments. Of these, nearly half (48%) use agent-based solutions. Specialized agentless and light-agent solutions are still uncommon, and are used in just 35% and 15% of cases respectively.

In using Endpoint Security-class solutions on virtual machines, a number of issues can arise. For example, anti-malware scanning and updating databases on multiple machines simultaneously can have a negative effect on the quality of service, create excessive loads on the infrastructure, or even lead to service failure.

To prevent this from happening, specialized solutions can be used that minimize the load on each protected machine. This involves the heaviest components of the solutions, namely the scanning engine and database updates, being moved to a dedicated virtual machine – a Security Virtual Appliance (SVA). This dramatically reduces the impact of resources on endpoint desktops, and prevents problematic situations of peak loads on the entire infrastructure; through centralized queue management and optimized scans.

Kaspersky Security for Virtualization comes in two versions – agentless and light-agent – and helps ensure reliable virtual environment protection with minimal impact on system resources. The agentless solution functions without any software being installed on the protected machines, and operates exclusively via VMware vShield tools.

Kaspersky Security for Virtualization | Light Agent protects against a broad range of threats, as it incorporates a complete set of tools: firewall, Web Anti-Virus, Application Control, Web Control, etc. The anti-malware scanner and databases are deployed on the SVA, and a light agent is installed on all the other virtual machines, giving the SVA full access. Even if the local SVA fails, the virtual machines will not be left unprotected: Kaspersky Lab’s patented Fault Tolerance technology makes sure the agents can work with any SVA located within the same network segment.

Alexander Onishchenko, Product manager at Kaspersky Lab commented,“Compared to traditional endpoint security, most customers of specialized solutions benefit from lower resource consumption and enhanced performance, but this is not the only reason. In large installations, the ease of management that accompanies an agentless approach is the top factor, and when it comes to securing VDI environments, a light agent approach becomes the only way to achieve high performance without compromising the security."

¹The information security of businesses - Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, 2015. Over 5,500 IT specialists were surveyed from more than 25 countries around the world.