Welcome to the Microsoft Security Newsletter - a monthly newsletter for IT professionals and developers bringing security news, guidance, updates, and community resources direct to your inbox. To view an online version of this newsletter, please click here. If you would like to receive less technical security news, guidance and updates, please subscribe to the Microsoft Security for Home Computer Users Newsletter.
Viewpoint | | By Kai Axford, CISSP and Senior Security Strategist, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Group
As with any new technology, there are plenty of myths out there with regard to protecting virtual servers. This article addresses the top-three virtual security myths and offers a few observations for those considering the virtual route. |
Top Stories | | At the RSA Conference 2008 in April, Microsoft proposed a vision for End-to-End Trust and began an internal effort to identify scenarios that would realize this vision in a concrete form. This communication shares some of the feedback we have received to date from governments, industry partners, customers, industry analysts, and public interest groups. The article expresses our thoughts on that feedback and provides an update on our efforts around in-person-proofing (IPP) as the basis for authenticating identity attributes on the Internet. | | | The Federated Identity team is excited to offer a public beta of Microsoft Code Name "Zermatt." "Zermatt" is a .NET developer framework and SDK that helps developers build claims-aware applications to address today's application security requirements. "Zermat" uses a simplified model that is open and extensible, can improve security, and boosts productivity for developers. Developers can build externalized authentication (authN) capabilities for "relying party" applications and build custom "identity providers," often referred to as Security Token Services (STS). |
Security Guidance | | Securing the virtualization server involves all the measures you take to secure any Windows Server 2008 server role, plus a few extra to help secure the virtual machines, configuration files, and data. This month's tip offers best practices to improve the security of your virtualization servers configured with the Hyper-V role, many of which apply to other virtualization servers as well. | | | Gain an initial understanding of the considerations you should take into account when planning to deploy Hyper-V, and find installation and configuration details that will help you deploy it. Learn about virtual networking basics and how to configure the Hyper-V role for remote management on a full installation of Windows Server 2008. | | | Download this free tool to identify servers for Hyper-V virtualization. This tool also offers migration assessment for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Windows Server 2008, and Microsoft SQL Server. | | | Download the new Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool Solution Accelerator, which automates software updates for virtual machines stored in a library managed by Virtual Machine Manager. This solution works with either System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Windows Server Update Services. | | | This document discusses how Data Protection Manager offers comprehensive data protection for organizations of all sizes, helping to maintain the business value of your Virtual Server infrastructure by making it better protected and more available. | | | This step-by-step guide covers installing Microsoft Virtual Server and System Center Virtual Machine Manager; converting a workload to a virtual machine; installing Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager; and backing up a running virtual machine. |
This Month's Security Bulletins Critical:
Community / MVP Update | | Microsoft believes the time is ripe for a broad public dialog about how to build a roadmap for bringing Trustworthy Computing to the Internet. To that end, we have established a public discussion forum where anyone concerned about online security and privacy can let their voice be heard. | | | Alessandro Perilli is an independent industry analyst based in Rome, Italy, with CISSP, MCSES, CCSE+, CCNA, SECURITY+, LINUX+, and CIWP certifications. In 2006, he received the MVP award for firewall technologies and again, in 2008, for virtualization technologies. Today, Alessandro provides a broad range of strategic and technical research analysis services for venture capital firms, IT vendors, system integrators, and multinationals worldwide. Alessandro is also a recognized conference speaker, performing keynotes and lectures at U.S. and EMEA events about virtualization and security, and the founder of Virtualization.info. |
Microsoft Product Lifecycle Information
Security Events and Training | | In this podcast, Brandon Baker, Senior Development Lead on the Microsoft Hyper-V team. Will talk about some security best practices on how to lock down a Hyper-V host | | | Virtualization is the "next big thing." You've at least examined it and probably are using several virtualized servers already. How are you handling the security of your images? How are you securing the guest and host operating systems, and the applications you're running? Virtualization raises certain unique security requirements and provides some interesting security capabilities, too. Join Steve Riley as he explores the interesting aspects of virtualization and security. | | | In an environment where there are complex applications such as line-of-business or customized in-house software, there are solutions that can greatly reduce the burden of having to deliver access to these applications to outsourced firms or partners. Use the resources in this learning path to find out how to control partner access or outsourcing. |
Upcoming Security Webcasts | | Upcoming security webcasts in a dynamic, interactive format. | For IT Professionals For Developers Microsoft On-Demand Webcasts | • | | | • | TechNet Webcast: Windows Server Virtualization Under the Hood (Level 200) This webcast starts with a quick recap of Microsoft Virtual Server before covering the new hypervisor-based architecture. Then it looks at the integrated management for virtual and physical resources, including the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) consoles, the new virtual machine creation wizard, the conversion tools, the performance enhancements that have been made, and integration into Group Policy. |
|
