Vectra Network will be leveraging the capabilities of VMware NSX® to accelerate the detection and mitigation of hidden cyber attackers in virtualised data centres, allowing for the mitigation of advanced threats close to the source in order to minimise potential damage.
Cyber attackers often pivot quickly from the point of entry to the data centre. Attackers spend most of their time in the data centre, where the lack of internal security controls and network visibility makes it easier for them to spy, spread and steal. Below the radar, attackers will then fan out across the infrastructure without being discovered.
Vectra reduces these risks by applying artificial intelligence that automatically detects cyber-attack behaviours, including command and control, lateral movement, internal reconnaissance and data exfiltration. This allows security teams to respond quickly to stop the progression of unknown and known threats.
“Targeted attackers can enter through the campus network and perform reconnaissance on located key data centre assets, then begin moving laterally and escalating privileges,” said Kevin Kennedy, vice president of product management at Vectra. “Previously, the recon and lateral movement that represent the majority of attacker dwell time has gone undetected due to a lack of visibility into the traffic between workloads.”
By leveraging Vectra virtual sensors (vSensors) and VMware NSX, businesses have access to increased network visibility and have less security control limitations when using Vectra to continuously monitor all traffic in the data center. This closes the time gap between detection and response through automated, adaptive security policy enforcement provided by VMware NSX.
“VMware NSX made micro-segmentation both financially and operationally feasible, and has completely transformed security within the data centre,” said Milin Desai, vice president, product management, networking and security business unit at VMware. “By leveraging NSX as a pervasive network virtualisation platform, Vectra is able to offer customers unique capabilities that further improve security response times and reduce business risk.”
With Vectra leveraging the VMware NSX network virtualisation and security platform to provide increased visibility into virtualised data centres, enterprises that run applications, data and shared computing resources via VMware NSX can reduce the risk of compromise, damage and theft of critical network assets.
Vectra and VMware NSX engineers are continuing to work together to build out automated workflow capabilities that create dynamic policies for faster incident response.
