VMware vSphere Security Cookbook

Network threats

Network threats are the largest in number due to the nature of the Internet and enterprise data connectivity. Since virtual switches function similar to physical switches, most, if not all, threats that have faced the traditional networking environment continue to face the virtualization environment. Even threats to specific Cisco IOS versions, for example, can affect the virtual network environment since there is a Cisco Nexus 1000 virtual switch available for VMware. There are several types of network attacks that generally fall into the following categories:

• Denial of service attack: This attack is usually focused on large commercial websites with the intent of making the website unavailable. A denial of service takes place when ...