Malware Enters the Matrix through a Virtual Door

Virtualized technology has become so pervasive even mobile devices are starting to use it to secure sensitive data in sandboxed, contained environments. While there is nothing wrong with adopting this innovative technology, most of us have not spent enough time securing virtualized environments.

Cyber Attackers are aware of this imbalance and will definitely exploit it. Already we're seeing malicious code that can recognize when it's running in a virtual system and act accordingly. Last year we had the first real-world instance of malware that actually sought out virtual machines and infected them directly. In 2013, expect to see attackers create even more VM-targeted malware. It will be designed to take advantage of weaknesses found in many virtual environments, while attempting to avoid virtualized automatic threat detection systems.