VMware targets virtual security with VMsafe

SELF-PROCLAIMED king of the wild virtualisation frontier, VMWare today announced a security platform for its virtual networks.

VMsafe is an API that protects applications running in virtual machines by allowing the inspection of every byte of memory and every click of the processor according to Mendel Rosenblum, VMware co-founder and chief geek.

The APIs allows third-party security product vendors to develop for VMware’s virtualised networks. McAfee “chief hole-plugger” Chris Bolin said he was “thrilled” at the opportunity and that VMWare had turned on to security “so early in their revolution”.
Once a platform or technology becomes pervasive enough it will be attacked Bolin said. He reckoned VMsafe would change the way McAfee delivers security products and would “impact everything we do.”

A further nineteen security vendors have "embraced" VMsafe technology VMware said.

The VMsafe technology is plugged in at the hypervisor layer of virtualisation to detect and eliminate the latest generation of malware. The VMware hypervisor runs directly on server hardware independently of the operating system, enabling users to create virtual machines on the server in which to run applications.

According to VMware, security products built on VMsafe technology are able to stop malware before it harms a machine or steals data, including the latest generation of rootkits, trojans and viruses, which are undetectable on physical machines. µ