Kaspersky Lab to Introduce Virtual Networking and Security Solution for New VMware Ready Program

Solution Prototype Being Previewed at VMworld® 2012 in San Francisco

Woburn, MA –August 27, 2012 –Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of security and threat management solutions, today announced its intent to develop a new solution to secure network traffic as part of the newly announced VMware Ready™ for Networking and Security Program.  The solution, which will be integrated within Kaspersky Security for Virtualization, will now offer enhanced protection utilizing Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention technologies, providing agentless security to protect virtual machines from network attacks. 

This announcement comes six months after Kaspersky Lab released an agentless security solution for VMware vShield Endpoint™.  The future addition of these new traffic-monitoring technologies will further bolster Kaspersky Lab’s security offerings for VMware virtual and cloud environments.  Customers using Kaspersky Lab will have a unified management platform to administer their virtual, physical and mobile environments.

Kaspersky Lab is working with VMware to provide IDS/IPS technologies using the new VMware Ready™ for Networking and Security Program, which will enable customers to continue utilizing their existing investments in networking and security products, while realizing the efficiency and agility benefits of VMware cloud infrastructure through validated joint solutions  “The Kaspersky Difference” gives network administrators the benefits of straightforward deployment, automatic protection of new virtual machines, mapping of both logical and physical computing structures, and automatic security updates, all managed by “a single pane of glass,” the Kaspersky Security Center administration console.

In addition to straightforward administration and management Kaspersky Security for Virtualization was designed with efficiency in mind, and delivers the best balance of malware protection and network performance with increased consolidation ratios for customers.  All network traffic scanning is off-loaded to a single anti-malware signature database and anti-malware scanning engine, ensuring organizations reap the maximum resource efficiency from their virtual network.

The New Challenges for Virtual Security
According to a global survey of businesses conducted by O+K Research in March 2012, 81 percent of US companies run business-critical services in virtual environments.  Clearly, the benefits of virtualization can clearly be seen by businesses.  But while businesses rush to virtualize, many don’t fully recognize the security implications.  Of the same businesses surveyed:

• 53 percent of businesses surveyed in the US are not securing their virtual infrastructure
• 27 percent believe that the security risks in a virtual environment are lower or significantly lower than those for physical infrastructure

Moreover, businesses that plan to secure their virtual environments seem to have a “one-size fits all” attitude.  More than half of US businesses are either not interested in agent-less security solutions for virtual infrastructure, or are interested but not planning to adopt it. Only 17% of US companies (18% in Europe) have confirmed the implementation of such security for their virtual infrastructure.

What does that mean?  Not only are an alarming number of businesses unaware of the security risks associated with virtual environments, but the many of the organizations that actually plan to implement security are using a less-than-ideal solution.  Applying an agent-based solution to virtual networks – the same model applied to the physical network – can result in significant performance losses across the network.  Instead of applying physical protection methods to virtual machines, an agent-less security solution eliminates the need for duplicated resources on each virtual machines, helping to optimize performance, reduce hardware costs and energy consumption, and provide detailed logging of security tasks to satisfy compliance auditing requirements. 

QUOTES:
Petr Merkulov, Chief Product Officer,
Kaspersky Lab
“At Kaspersky Lab, we know that every technological innovation is eventually targeted by cybercriminals.  Our mission is to make sure security technology keeps up with the rapid pace of innovation, allowing businesses to make cutting-edge improvements without leaving their IT infrastructure exposed.  This is the second time in 2012 that Kaspersky Lab and VMware have worked hand-in-hand to deliver the very best user experience for our mutual customers, and we look forward to our continued partnership.”

Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances
VMware
“Our virtualization and cloud-infrastructure solutions are built to give businesses the agility to stay competitive, and the freedom to work with other technology-providers as they choose.  The VMware Ready™for Networking and Security Program will enable our partner community to easily integrate their products with VMware cloud infrastructure, including VMware vSphere® and the VMware vCloud® product portfolio, to deliver validated joint solutions. Kaspersky Lab has a stellar reputation for protection and efficiency, and we’re pleased to see this latest announcement bringing new layers of protection to virtual networks.”

Kaspersky Security for Virtualization will be demoed at the VMworld Conference in the Moscone Center, San Francisco, at booth #1801. Product availability and pricing has not been finalized.

System Requirements and Availability:
Kaspersky Security for Virtualization, combined with VMware vShield Endpoint™, is compatible with vSphere® 5.1; VMware ESX® 4.1, VMware ESXi™ 5.0 and 5.1; VMware vCenter™ Server 5.1; VMware vShield™ App 1.0; VMware vShield Edge 1.0 and VMware View® 4.5.  Kaspersky Security for Virtualization provides agent-less protection for virtual machines running on most Windows operation systems, including Widows 7; Windows Vista; Windows XP; Windows Server 2008; Windows Server 2008 R2; and Windows Server 2003.

About Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky Lab is the world’s largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its 15-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for consumers, SMBs and Enterprises. The company currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 300 million users worldwide. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

*The company was rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2010. The rating was published in the IDC report Worldwide IT Security Products 2011-2015 Forecast and 2010 Vendor Shares – December 2011. The report ranked software vendors according to earnings from sales of endpoint security solutions in 2010.

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VMware, VMworld, VMware vShield, VMware Ready, VMware View, VMware vCloud and VMware vShield Endpoint are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.