Validating Data Center Microsegmentation
Solution Briefs
Segmenting Workloads
Virtualization took marketing’s microsegmentation concept and applied it to modern data centers. It uses a collection of virtual machines or containers to segment data centers by their meaningful workloads. With workloads classified by the specific functions they serve (like web, application, database, services workloads), organizations can specify security measures relevant to each workload type.
Previously, data centers were treated as monolithic entities, protected by the perimeter security technologies. The biggest issue with this approach is that once an intruder gained access to the data center network, they could move laterally around the large attack surface that a usual data center presents. With little to no security measures existing between, for example, an infected server and a database, these attacks get a free run.