Illumio Secures Docker Container and DCOS Environments

The Five Dos and Don’ts of Virtualization

As is often the case when it comes to deploying emerging technologies in enterprise IT environments, the level of security available to make sure those technologies don’t wind up creating new pathways for malware can be a showstopper. Nowhere has that been more apparent than in the security debate surrounding Docker containers.

To make it possible for IT organizations to make use of Docker containers and platforms such as the Mesosphere Data Center Operating System (DCOS), Illumio today announced that its Adaptive Security Platform (ASP) now supports both Docker and DCOS. llumio ASP works by injecting a virtual enforcement agent into the operating system on which the application workload runs. Every time that workload moves, the virtual enforcement agent travels with it, while Illumio provides the management plane those security policies invoke via the cloud.

Alan Cohen, chief commercial officer for Illumio, says with these additions, ASP provides a software-based approach that can not only be used to secure hypervisors, but also extended to secure a variety of emerging technologies in the enterprise.

Obviously, IT security needs to be a major concern. But IT organizations also need to be able to freely innovate. Otherwise, IT security becomes an albatross around the neck of IT innovation. In the case of Illumio, IT organizations gain access to a cloud security service through which security policies can be more consistently enforced across multiple platforms.

Of course, the cloud itself is often a source of much IT insecurity, so naturally there’s a certain sense of irony in relying on one rapidly maturing technology to help ensure the secure adoption of other emerging technologies that are just now starting to gain traction in production environments.