Hypervisor and Management Plane Hardening

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• Hypervisor and cloud management plane is prime target for attack
  • allow access to the data for every instance
• Hypervisor security
  • ensure proper configuration, updates, and patching standards are used
    • restrict use of superuser accounts
    • require MFA
    • use logging and alerting
    • limit access to authorized users
    • encrypt VMs
    • use secure boot for underlying hardware
    • perform regular audits

Instance Isolation

• isolate each VM with logical controls
  • limit access to others systems and Internet
  • use firewalls and security group controls
  • secure hypervisor layer to ensure VMs can’t access resources assigned to others

Host Isolation

• Underlying hosts must be physically and logically isolated from one another as much as possible
  • network connections should be minimized and secured
  • thorough network monitoring
    • immediately recognize and respond to host escape activity