Less than 20 percent of organizations using virtualization technology are adopting security tools to work in tandem with the software in order to decrease the risks that are inherent in a virtualized environment. This according to John Burke, Principal Research Analyst with Nemertes Research, who spoke Tuesday at the IT Roadmap Conference and Expo in Boston about the emerging threats posed to mobile and virtual environments.

Burke pointed to a woefully unprepared landscape of IT managers who have not yet confronted the serious risks that exist today. While 68 percent of workloads are virtualized, according to Burke's presentation, only a fraction of those using virtualization are adopting those environments in a secure way.

Why? The common answer, according to Burke, is "We haven't seen any compromise yet."

"That isn't a statement any audit team is going to take too seriously," he cautioned.

Burke said IT departments are increasingly sacrificing the kind of security once seen in physical data centers in order to reap the benefits of virtualization.

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