Tag Archives: Virtualization

Nutanix AHV and Rubrik’s Layered Security – The Key to System Resilience and Efficiency

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Protecting critical infrastructure from cyber threats and ensuring business continuity in the face of disasters is a top priority for organizations today. Luckily, Nutanix AHV, a modern, secure virtualization platform that powers and enhances virtual machines (VMs), can help. Rubrik’s integrated solutions fortify AHV environments against ransomware attacks and enable efficient disaster recovery. By leveraging features like immutable backups, anomaly detection and on-demand cloud-based disaster recovery, organizations can enhance their cyber resilience and minimize the impact of disruptive incidents.

A Simple and Secure Path to VM Management

Nutanix AHV is simple to use and secure by design. The platform works through a centralized control plane, where AHV is integrated into a single application programming interface (API). This eradicates a complicated setup on the customer side. By maintaining constant management and a virtualization layer, Nutanix AHV allows organizations to fulfill mission objectives.

Nutanix AHV features several built-in security features, such as micro-segmentation, data insights, audit trails, ransomware protection and data age analytics.

Nutanix features:

  • Built-in, self-healing abilities protect against disk failure, node failure and more
  • A vulnerability patch summary automatically alerts users about susceptibility risks and anomalies that need to be addressed
  • A life cycle manager provides readmittance testing and deployment testing
  • More than one copy of backup data, ensuring that users do not lose valuable information
  • Multi-site replication including to and from the public cloud.

Securing data in Nutanix AHV requires more than just the basic perimeter defenses, but a multi-layered strategy. With Rubrik’s data protection abilities, which include immutable backups, automatic encryption and logical air-gapping, agencies and organizations can recover information within minutes and resume mission objectives in the event of a breach.

Securing Data with Rubrik’s Rapid Recovery Abilities

Rubrik, a security cloud solution provider that keeps your data resilient, enables the near-instant recovery of virtual machines and data within the Nutanix AHV environment. Rubrik provides multiple recovery options within AHV, such as file-level recovery, live mount, export, mount virtual disks and downloadable virtual disk files. Through Rubrik, businesses can recover files from older hypervisors into newer AHV environments without having older hypervisors online. Once granted access to the AHV environment, Rubrik automatically discovers and integrates protocols and base level policies for VMs. Rubrik’s recovery process restores data in minutes, regardless of VM size. As VMs get larger and larger, frequently hitting 50 terabytes, this speedy and precise response empowers organization’s incident response plans to be swift and efficient. After scanning the meta data, users are granted file level recovery after anomaly detection, allowing users oversight on affected data.

As the data that organizations manage grows exponentially, data security becomes critical to business functions. Rubrik offers comprehensive data security, continuously monitoring and remediating data risks within the network.

Through Rubrik, businesses can recover files from older hypervisors into newer AHV environments without having older hypervisors online. Once granted access to the AHV environment, Rubrik automatically discovers and integrates protocols and base level policies for VMs.Rubrik’s recovery process restores data in minutes, regardless of VM size. As VMs get larger and larger, frequently hitting 50 terabytes, this speedy and precise response empowers organization’s incident response plans to be swift and efficient.After scanning the meta data, users are granted file level recovery after anomaly detection, allowing users oversight on affected data.

Rubrik also provides constant monitoring for backups. Typically, businesses do not regulate data backlogs, which increases the likelihood that they miss attackers that sit in the system environment for a few days before collecting data. With Rubrik’s threat monitoring and hunting, organizations can search through backups and detect when an anomaly entered the environment. Through Nutanix and Rubrik’s integration, IT teams can reduce complexity, gain oversight, cut down on operational costs and improve resiliency and efficiency.

Automation: The Key to a Proactive Incident Response

Modern cyber threats require a proactive approach to incident response. With automation and orchestration, facilitated by the combined capabilities of Nutanix and Rubrik, organizations can detect, respond to and recover from cyber incidents more efficiently.

Rubrik has a built-in anomaly detection, which searches protected data for strange behavior, such as mass deletion or encryption. As the volume of data on a network increases, organizations often have sensitive data they are not actively monitoring or even know sensitive data maybe exposed. Rubrik clusters are always scanning protected data for anomalies, sensitive data, and known IOC’s allowing customers to select resolution options, such as isolating compromised VMs, or the ability to restore product systems from last known good copies.

Readiness impacts recovery time, and recovery time impacts organization operations. Nutanix AHV’s recovery organization authorizes IT teams to organize VMs into a set of templates, which can be used to create blueprints and launch application recovery. Nutanix also provides organizations with the flexibility to apply policy to each workload, taking control of network security and BC/DR policy with VM level granularity. By allowing organizations to map out their application owners, Nutanix AHV enables businesses to move from a reactive to a proactive security posture, minimizing the impact of attacks and ensuring swift recovery.

Nutanix and Rubrik’s integration creates a powerful security and operational synergy, empowering organizations with the tools they need for network safety and, if necessary, a swift and comprehensive restoration of critical systems, empowering organizations to resume business missions. Nutanix AHV enables organizations to reduce complexity, improve security and achieve a higher level of resilience and operational efficiency.

To learn more about how Nutanix AHV and Rubrik’s integration delivers streamlined data protection, rapid recovery and robust incident response capabilities, watch our webinar, Fortifying AHV: Cyber Recovery and Incident Response with Nutanix and Rubrik.

Software, AI, Cloud and Zero Trust as Top Priorities for the Army and DoD at Large at TechNet Augusta 2023

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Many of the major cybersecurity, data, DevSecOps and other trends from the past couple of years continue to grow and be top priorities for every segment of the Department of Defense (DoD). At TechNet Augusta 2023, Government and industry experts shared the specific needs of their organizations across those areas and solutions to help achieve their goals. The main theme of the event was “Enabling a Data-Centric Army” and expanding those principles and their mobilizing technologies to the entire DoD. For the Army in particular, the shift from hardware to software, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud capabilities and Zero Trust were headlining topics at the conference.

Shifting from Hardware to Software

In an effort to increase agility and expand access to resources, the Army is transitioning its equipment from hardware to software. Amending its materiel release process to decouple software from hardware allows the Army to deploy software outside of the long hardware acquisition cycle. To mobilize this endeavor, the Army Futures Command (AFC), is modifying its software requirements to focus on high-level overviews that are then refined by operators. Alongside this shift, the Army and other departments requested that technology providers ensure that their software solutions integrate with each other. Going forward, the Army also asked industry to provide software that is not tied to specific hardware. This separation will be key to establishing data-centricity. Nearly every speaker echoed the importance of this shift for their departments.

Utilizing AI

With this major transition to a software-heavy environment, Army Chief Data and Analytics Officer David Markowitz believes it will be an ideal use case for generative AI in software development. Having a controlled environment in software development would make it easier to properly govern compared to the complexity of some of the other uses. As AI usage increases across the DoD, military leaders requested industry create AI platforms with layered complexity of features enabling users of any skill level to utilize the technology effectively. In regard to AI applications for data, Army CIO Leonel Garciga stated that additional guidance on “Data Use on Public/Commercial Platforms” would be released soon to clarify its policy. Overall, officials concurred that the DoD is not looking to become 100% reliant on AI aid but instead maximize AI’s strengths to augment human critical thinking and empower commanders to make data-driven decisions.

Enabling Cloud Capabilities

Over the past year, the Army has exponentially increased its cloud migration and virtualized capabilities. Housing information in the cloud optimizes data storage and simplifies ease of access particularly with the increase in data output, and the push for AI data analytics and data-driven decisions. Hybrid cloud solutions offer the readiness, adaptability and duplication of vital information necessary for military operations to continue smoothly in any situation. Currently, DoD leaders seek industry solutions for modernizing and moving applications to the cloud simultaneously. Acquiring technology with this ability would reduce both the security risk and the work required from the military to implement it.

Expanding Zero Trust

Overarching every aspect of the DoD is the critical need for cybersecurity. Garciga plans to emphasize Zero Trust implementation heavily in conjunction with improving user experience and cyber posture. While multi-factor authentication offers a great starting point, military leaders explained that it is not enough and that they look to partner with industry to close virtualization vulnerabilities through continuous monitoring and regular red teaming. At the conference, the Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) outlined seven principles for IT providers to follow for all capabilities they deliver:

  • Rapidly Patch Software
  • Assess All Production Code for Security Flaws
  • Improve Security of Development Networks
  • Isolate Development Environments from the Internet and from the Vendor Business Network
  • Implement Development Network Security Monitoring
  • Implement Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on Development Network and Testing Services
  • Implement Role-based Permissions on Development Network

Empowering DoD Success

A consistent thread woven throughout the event was the vital nature of open communication and partnership between the DoD and technology companies to achieve the established goals. Within each of these areas including the shift from hardware to software, use of AI, cloud capabilities and Zero Trust, the DoD looks to innovate and explore new methods and solutions to stay ahead on the world platform. Together through collaboration, industry can have a vital role in keeping American citizens safe one technology update at a time.

 

Explore our Federal Defense Technology Solutions Portfolio to learn how Carahsoft can support your organization through innovative, agile defense resources and IT capabilities.

*The information contained in this blog has been written based off the thought-leadership discussions presented by speakers at TechNet Augusta 2023.*

Overcoming Data Challenges With Virtualization

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Despite the variation in their individual mandates, all regulatory agencies have one main objective: to protect the public. However, there are hurdles to this goal. There are heavy costs associated with data warehousing, as large projects require extensive telecommunication and server space. This can be both expensive and time-consuming. Luckily, by implementing data virtualization tools, agencies can overcome these constraints and provide more effective services.

What is Data Virtualization?

Data virtualization is an approach to data management that helps organizations accelerate the turnaround time for converting data into digestible information. These data sources can range from a variety of locations, including distributions and data stores and any documents, emails or spreadsheets an agency has. With such a wide array of data, accessing and understanding all vital information can be both time-consuming and overwhelming. Data virtualization is necessary to streamline access to the answers and information agencies and users require.

Thentia Data Virtualization Blog Embedded Image 2022How It Works

Data virtualization software begins by creating a layer over or around all existing data sources in an organization. Through its complementary interface, the software outputs the needed information. This process saves an abundance of time that is otherwise spent reading labels and searching for a single piece of information.

Another major benefit is that data virtualization software creates a layer of abstraction between the data source and what the user ultimately sees. The software arranges heterogeneous data from all the different sources across an organization, and then quickly presents it to the user. By properly interacting with the data sources, data virtualization software ensures that all data sources are correctly represented. This way, users can receive sufficient context behind the information they are accessing.

Boons that Enhance Virtualizing Servers

Typically, data virtualization exists between the user and their vast array of data sources. Virtualizing tools have several benefits. They:

  • Reduce the processing time and cost
  • Provide the same opportunity to accomplish a variety of goals and objectives
  • Reduce expenses associated with data integration

In addition to these numerous advantages, virtualizing servers have the same security benefits that any other IT system has. For one, data servers exist on a single network, and are isolated from potential threats. Servers have network isolation and segmentation to prevent the unnecessary cross of information. With granular access control, users can implement micro-segmentation to further this boon. Lastly, by maintaining updates and new security patches, virtualizing servers can stay up to date with the latest cybersecurity practices. For a professional licensing agency, it is always beneficial and necessary to take steps to secure their software. Additional steps don’t need to be taken to protect virtualizing servers.

Choosing the right data virtualization software

The process of implementing data virtualization can be daunting at first. As each organization differs in the types of information it collects and how that information is categorized, data virtualization will also differ. However, there are a few elements that regulatory agencies should consider. First, regulators should determine the setup/layout of their existing organization structure. Questions to consider include:

  • What existing technology is owned?
  • What systems are being worked with?
  • What are the agency’s needs?
  • What are the agency’s top priorities?

All these factors contribute to how data virtualization is implemented. Once the respective regulator reaches a higher end of technological maturity, it should begin looking into fully implementing data virtualization. With the proper virtualization software, regulators can swiftly sift through information.

Data virtualization servers reduce time, resources and cost for regulators

For a variety of agencies, data virtualization can greatly streamline and improve their access to information. By transforming manual systems into a digital, accessible process, virtualization servers reduce time, resources and cost for regulators in their ongoing work to best utilize data to aid the public.

To learn more about Thentia’s data virtualization solutions, visit our website.