Virtualization Risks in the Cloud

often requires use of controls that can only be implemented by the cloud provider
cloud customer must rely on contractual provisions to implementation and enforcement

Risks

Attacks on the hypervisor
- threat actor may attack the underlying hypervisor
- attackers prefer type 2 hypervisors because of larger attack surface
  - hypervisor itself, underlying OS, hardware
VM escape
- aka guest escape
- improperly designed or poorly configured VM may allow user to leave confines of the virtualized instance
- can then access other resources
- host escape is where a user can escape the VM and the host machine itself
Information bleed
- stems from malfunctions of security failures
- processing or information on one instance may be detected by other instances on the same host
- may be possible to detect that a certain processing is occurring on an instance
  - can be used as information to develop attacks
  - referred to as side channel attack or cover channel attack
Data seizure
- legal activity may result in confiscation or inspection of a host machine
  - can include virtualized instances
- cloud data centers can be seen as demilitarized zones (DMZs)
  - everything in the cloud can be accessed remotely
  - exposed to the Internet