Virtualisation security covers hypervisors, virtual machines, and isolated workloads, where flaws or misconfiguration can expose systems and data.
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Background for this topic.
Virtualisation uses software to divide or simulate computing resources so multiple isolated virtual machines (VMs) can share a physical host. Each VM can run its own operating system and applications; a hypervisor controls access to the host’s processors, memory, storage and devices. The term can also include virtual networks and storage, while containers provide a related but less isolated form of workload virtualisation.
Security depends on the hypervisor and its management plane being securely configured, patched and access-controlled. A hypervisor vulnerability or misconfiguration can expose data across VMs, and a VM escape can allow code running in one guest to reach the host or other guests. Virtual machine images, templates and snapshots may retain credentials or sensitive data and therefore require inventory, integrity checks, encryption and controlled retention. Network segmentation between virtual workloads should be enforced through explicit policies rather than assumed from virtual separation. These controls also support reliable investigation and recovery by preserving trustworthy images and records of administrative changes.
An increasing number of ransomware operations are adopting the leaked Babuk ransomware source code to create Linux encryptors targeting VMware ESXi servers. [...]
Multiple threat actors have capitalized on the leak of Babuk (aka Babak or Babyk) ransomware code in September 2021 to build as many as nine different ransomware families capable of targeting VMware ESXi systems
The ransomware gang has also started using the BatLoader dropper and SEO poisoning for initial access.
A new ruleset from Bazel, an open source build and test tool from Google, allows developers to create Docker images and generate software bills of materials about what is inside the containers.