A Model To Mitigate Security Vulnerability Of Live Migration In Virtualization

Abstract

The concept of a virtual machine is not new as its popularity and usage has increased overtime. Live migration is a feature in virtual machine that allows resources from one physical server to be moved to another with little or no interruption in the processes of the guest operating system. It is a feature that is widely used in modern data centers, since servers and applications need to be available all time even when there is a system maintenance window. However there is a cost associated with live migration that needs further examining. During live migration data on transit is in clear text and can be intercepted by hackers by performing a man-in-the-middle attack. In order to improve data confidentiality, integrity and authenticity during live migration, we need to address this issue. This dissertation seeks to establish the security vulnerabilities of live migration in virtualization technology by performing a lab simulation experiment and propose a solution to mitigate the problem.