virtualbox.org

Hi guys,

So I'm new to the forum, apologies if I could find this information anywhere else, but I thought I'd just ask.

I'm a student writing my final year dissertation on the security of virtual environments, in particular how the vulnerabilities can be exploited. Now I don't have a set of servers or a budget so I proposed to use VirtualBox for my work. I am looking to use VirtualBox on my private Windows Laptop to test any vulnerabilities VB has and how I can work with them.

I have got to the point where I need to know if the work I have proposed is possible, and if someone can point me in the right direction for how to get started with this. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Moved to "Windows Hosts" since I'm assuming that's what your laptop is running.

VirtualBox is PC software, it will run to some extent on your laptop. It's hard to say how suitable it will be since you don't mention what the constraints are. Is it a relatively new laptop? What OS does it run? Is the host OS 64bit or 32bit? What is the CPU? How much disk space exists, and how much do you need? (the latter will depend on which OS you intend to install).

Also, in your dissertation I urge you to consider the distinction between security issues introduced because it's a VM running on a host (e.g. can the guest access the host surreptitiously?), and security issues met by any PC connected to a network (malware copied to shared folders).

I can tell you that I know of per VM vulnerabilities per se, but when the VM is connected to a network it will open the same paths as any other PC connected to a network - the virtual nature of the PC would be irrelevant to the problem.