Tag: VMworld

Aug 20

VMworld 2018 vSphere Security Sessions

It’s that time of year again! The time when we all pack our comfortable shoes and head to Las Vegas for VMworld! As we are all dealing with the seemingly ever-increasing IT security issues that plague our industry, VMware is there to help you make sense of it and deal with it in as easy a way as possible.

This blog article focuses on the vSphere side of the VMware house. Let me share with you the sessions I’m part of and one or two that I think you should all attend.

CPU Vulnerabilities Sessions (Spectre, L1TF a.k.a. Foreshadow)

Mitigating CPU Security Vulnerabilities – A look at vSphere Mitigations [SAI3770BU]

L1TF (a.k.a. Foreshadow) is the latest in a round of CPU based attack vectors the industry as a whole is dealing with. To address that for VMworld I’m happy to say that our CTO of Server Platform Technologies, Rich Brunner, will be giving this session. (Little known fact, both Rich and I worked in the OpenVMS development team many years ago!)

If you want one of the deepest dives into CPU-based security challenges such as Spectre and L1TF then this is the session you MUST attend. It’s on Monday, Aug 27, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

CPU Security Vulnerabilities Q&A Panel [SAI4777PU]

I’ll be moderating this panel session. We’ll have the following folks on the panel:

  • Manish Gaur, Director, vSECR (Product Security)
  • Richard Brunner, CTO, Server Platform Technologies
  • Edward Hawkins, Security Response (PSIRT)
  • David Dunn, Principal Engineer

We’ll be taking questions on the latest security vulnerabilities, introducing you to how VMware responds to vulnerabilities and probably breaking some myths while we’re at it. Wednesday, Aug 29, 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m

If security vulnerabilities are your thing then you should sign up for these two right away.

vSphere Security

With vSphere 6.7 having come out this year and introduced a bunch of new security features, it stands to reason that I’ll be showcasing those features at VMworld. I’ve brought along a few friends to help me out with some of these sessions.

vSphere Platform Security Update [VIN1305BU]

This is a session I give every year. If your schedule is jam packed and you just need the Readers Digest version of the other stuff I will be talking about then this is the session to take. In this session I’ll give an overview of all of the vSphere 6.7 security features and will briefly touch on the L1TF. Thursday, Aug 30, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Deep Dive: Supporting Microsoft Virtualization-Based Security with vSphere [VIN1304BU]

I, along with my co-speaker, David Dunn, a Principle Engineer working on vSphere security architecture, will be diving into vSphere 6.7’s support for Microsoft Virtualization Based Security. Your security teams probably refer to this as “Credential Guard” but it’s much more. In the session I will level set everyone with what VBS does and cover the features in 6.7 to enable it. David will dive under the covers and show you how we actually implemented it. Seeing as a VM running VBS is a “nested” VM, this introduced a lot of challenges that we had to tackle! (Spoiler: We succeeded!)

vSphere Security Deep Dive: Supporting TPM and Virtual TPM 2.0 [VIN1303BU]

Everyone asks for a TPM, but do you know what it really does? I ask only because I have had to dispel a lot of assumptions. In this session my co-speaker Sam (Samyuktha) Subramanian will cover what a TPM actually does do (and not do!). She was one of the engineers who brought TPM 2.0 to ESXi, so she knows her stuff! Together we’ll cover how ESXi uses a TPM and how a virtual TPM works. If your security folks are on your case about vTPM or TPM on ESXi then this is the session for that!

ESXi Security – A Step Ahead [VIN2762BU]

You’ve seen all the work we’ve done with vSphere and Security over the past few releases. Do you want to gain a better understanding of how some of that work was developed? And maybe learn more about where hypervisor security could go? Join me and my co-speaker, Kevin Christopher, a Sr. Staff Engineer here at VMware, for an engaging discussion that will be light on PowerPoint and deep on where we see things in the future of hypervisors and security.

General

Meet the vSphere Experts Panel [VIN3032PU]

Finally, the session lots of folks enjoy. It’s not unlike the game of “Stump the Chumps”! The vSphere Experts Panel includes a number of us from the vSphere Tech Marketing team. Names you’re familiar with such as Emad Younis, Adam Eckerle, Kyle Ruddy and yours truly. Leading this band of merry men on the panel is Dilpreet Bindra, our Sr. Director of vCenter Development. If it goes in to vCenter then it’s been approved by Dilpreet!

Wrap Up

This marks my 5th VMworld as a VMware employee and my 9th VMworld in the US. It’s interesting to watch the changes in vSphere security over the years. I think it’s finally reached critical mass! (Or maybe I have?)

If you are new to VMworld (and I see a lot of new faces at VMworld lately!) then take the time to enjoy the scene and become part of a huge community of like-minded individuals.

If you see me moving quickly through the halls of Mandalay Bay and I don’t see you it’s probably because A. I don’t have my distance glasses on and B. I’m late to my next session or customer meeting! If we have the time to chat, then please hit me up. I’m at VMworld to work and to help you be successful when it comes to vSphere Security!

Enjoy VMworld!

mike

Aug 06

Recommended vSphere-focused Security Sessions at VMworld 2015

Hi everyone,

Here’s a quick blog post for you as you’re going through the VMworld Schedule Builder for VMworld 2015. Below is a list of security sessions that are primarily focused on vSphere Security. The NSX guys have a whole other laundry list of awesome sessions but for now, we’re going to focus on vSphere. Let’s get started!

I’m going to group these by their presenters.

Mike Foley

INF4758 – vSphere 6 Security Update Tuesday at 12:30pm
Get updated on what’s new in vSphere from a security perspective. You’ll get an overview of things like the new Lockdown Mode, an introduction to the big changes in vSphere security certificate management and the big changes that were made to the vSphere Hardening Guide.

INF5177 – vSphere Security: Fact .vs. Fiction (A 2014 repeat, back by popular demand!) Wednesday at 4pm
Is your security guy on your case about vSphere Security and thinks “VM Escape” is the primary threat? Learn the facts vs the fiction about security threats and come away feeling empowered to have “that” discussion with your security guy. Better yet, bring him along!

INF5539 – Infrastructure Security Panel Discussion Wednesday at 10am
Industry IT and Security experts get together and talk about the challenges, concerns and goings-on in virtualization and cloud security. The panel consists of folks from Financial and Heathcare, Federal government, Enterprise security and auditing and yours truly. Come prepared to ask questions!

INF6396-GD Platform Security with Mike Foley Wednesday at 11am
This is a group discussion where YOU are the content! No death by PowerPoint, just me facilitating a rountable discussion of you and your peers. We’ll talk about vSphere security and share tips and tricks.

EXPERTSMFO – Meet the Experts with Mike Foley Tuesday at 3pm
Here’s your chance for some one on one time! In my opinion this is one of the most under-utilized opportunities at VMworld. Take advantage of it! Book some time and let’s talk! If you’re looking for a discussion on network security and NSX however, please book time with those folks. Book this and other Meet The Experts sessions when you get to VMworld. It’s usually at the top of the first escalator in Moscone West.

Yuecel Karabulut

INF5339 – Protect your VM data with VM Encryption for vSphere and vCloud Air
I can’t say anymore than “Get up early and get to this session”. Seriously, I can’t say anymore!

Ryan Johnson and Adam Eckerle

INF4529 – VMware Certificate Management for Mere Mortals
Take two talented IT guys with TONS of real-world customer experience and toss them together with the new vSphere 6 certificate story and you get a great discussion on certs for the everyday IT guy.

Johnny Ferguson

INF4946 – vSphere 6 Security Deep Dive: Certificates and Identity
You asked for it and you’re getting it. This is the session for deep diving into vSphere certificate management and identities. Johnny is the Product Manager for Identity Management, SSO and certificate managament.

Bob Wehrfritz

SDDC6404-QT – The future of Trust and Security
VMware customers range from small to HUGE. All of them (I would hope!) have concerns about security. Some of these concerns can be addressed in some of the sessions listed here. When you need to go even further and dive into the nitty-gritty and bits and bytes, VMware’s Security Group is now there with a new program just for you. Check out what Bob has to share and visit the VMTA folks in the VMware booth!

Hands On Labs!

Check out both HOL-SDC-1610 and HOL-SDC-1620 to check out some security features as part of the vSphere HOL and get hands on with different security features of vSphere. For more information, visit the VMworld 2015 Hands On Labs site.

There you have it.. It’s GREAT to see how much security on the vSphere platform itself has grown and continues to grow. As you’re building out your personal catalog of sessions and want to learn the soup to nuts on certificates, start with my session INF4758, then check out Ryan and Adam’s session INF4529 and wrap it up with Johnny’s mind-blowing session INF4946.

Enjoy and see YOU at VMworld 2015!

May 29

VMworld 2012 – Time to Vote!

Hi all,

I’ve submitted four sessions for VMworld 2012. Three of them I’ve submitted with my vPartner in Crime here at RSA, Brian Tobia. [His Blog]

Here are the sessions and their descriptions.

#2316 Session Title: IT Tools for Security Guys – vCenter Orchestrator
Session Abstract: Using vCenter Orchestrator and your Security Incident and Event Manager together to alert on out of policy actions.

#2315 Session Title: vShield for Beginners
Session Abstract: Understand the 3 components (app, endpoint & edge) of the vShield family. Introduce the concepts of security groups and the application of policies (AV, DLP, etc) at a group/business aligned level

#2324 Session Title: Mirror, Mirror – And introduction to network monitoring and packet capture in a virtual environment
Session Abstract: Introduction to the port mirroring capabilities and current limitations of the VMware Distributed Virtual Switch.

Also, for those of you who can vote for sessions that are not available to public voting, please check out #2326. I’d like to include the title here, but in order to respect confidentiality as the session depends on an unannounced feature of a future VMware product, I’ll leave that up to others to disclose. :)

Go VOTE!

And Thanks!