1. NSX Data Center for Security
CHALLENGES
NSX Data Center for Security
Cheat Sheet
Rate of security breaches is increasing, despite increased security spending
Data Breaches
PERSONAS
Lack of internal controls
Few internal network controls exist to protect applications from lateral spread of attacks
VP of Security/CISO
Prevent data breaches
Reduce security risk
Maintain compliance
Manage security operations
Director of Networking
Balance security with usability and accessibility
Ensure 24/7 network uptime
Reduce troubleshooting time
Director of Infrastructure
Do more with less
Ensure infrastructure security, availability, and reliability
Consolidate data centers
Improve mobility support
Applications and data change rapidly, security policies can’t keep up
Constant change
Apps and data are highly distributed across workloads, sites, and clouds – the traditional perimeter has dissolved
Distributed apps and data
Very little visibility exists into east-west traffic between applications in the data center
Visibility
DISCOVERY
Have you failed an audit or suffered a data breach recently?
Do you have good insight into east-west data center traffic?
Do you contend with managing disparate security policies on-prem and in the cloud?
What do you currently use to secure east-west data center traffic?
How do you detect and respond to threats on data center endpoints?
Is it difficult to maintain security policies as applications change over time?
Is your network security provisioning automated?

2. Dynamic Service Insertion Network & Application Visibility
SOLUTION COMPONENTS
Micro-segmentation
Micro-segment applications to prevent the lateral spread of threats throughout data center
Dynamic Service Insertion
Insert third party security services into the hypervisor to improve security posture and increase data center traffic efficiency
Network & Application Visibility
Gain visibility into application communication across data center to implement effective security policies.
TRIGGERS/USE CASES
Recent data breach or failed audit
VDI project or newly deployed VDI environment
Security hardware/software refresh (e.g. firewall, AV)
Looking to embrace hybrid or cloud environment
OBJECTION HANDLING
VMware software is usually owned by the VI Admin, with NSX I will lose control of the network.
NSX deployments that are most successful are led by the network team, but in close partnership with multiple teams including security and VI teams. However, NSX is a networking and security tool built specifically for Network Operations and Network Security practitioners. There is often a misperception that NSX removes power from networking practitioners. The features and capabilities are designed to solve their challenges and to give them more power and flexibility through the advantages of software.
Micro-segmentation seems complicated and we don’t know where to start.
There are a few hurdles to a micro-segmented environment that can trip up an organization: determining which policies to create, determining necessary security groups, maintaining policies over time. NSX Data Center’s built-in features and additional management tools address these challenges (Automatic rule/security group creation, automated provisioning capabilities, etc.) and VMware has best-practice guides to help customers through the process (5 Steps to Micro-segmentation).
Can I replace my physical firewalls used to secure east-west traffic with NSX Data Center?
Many customers find that they can replace or reduce the number of physical firewalls in their environment by leveraging Dynamic Service Insertion and the NSX distributed firewall capabilities to secure east-west traffic.
WHY NSX DATA CENTER
Intrinsic security, not bolted-on
Security as agile and scalable as the apps and data it protects
Enforce least-privilege across entire infrastructure
RESOURCES
NSX Vault Page
Cyber Hygiene White Paper
Virtual Network Assessment (VNA)
Forrester Zero Trust White Paper
Micro-segmentation Solution Brief
Micro-segmentation for Dummies
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
See it – Share demos on YouTube
Try it – Use the Virtual Network Assessment to show customers what east-west traffic looks like in their environment today
Try it – Leverage Hands-On-Labs to provide customers their own test-drive experience with the products
Use this Cheat Sheet as your go-to resource to start conversations about Modern Security with your customers