Glossary

Hypervisor

A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM), is a form of software, firmware, or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines (VMs). By sitting between the hardware and the virtual machines, the hypervisor allocates physical resources such as CPU, memory, and storage to each VM, which operates with its own operating system and applications as if running on a dedicated machine.

There are two main types of hypervisors:

In the context of PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), the hypervisor is considered a critical system component. It must be properly secured and managed to protect the virtual environments that handle cardholder data. This includes ensuring that the hypervisor is kept up to date with security patches, configuring it to isolate the activities and data of different VMs, and monitoring its operations to detect and respond to security incidents.

Ensuring hypervisor security is crucial because its compromise could potentially impact all hosted VMs, leading to significant security risks, particularly in environments handling sensitive data such as payment card information.

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