Server virtualization: Understanding the security training issues facing American rail transit agencies

This qualitative grounded theory explored and defined the concerns of the apparent gap in server virtualization security training in American rail transit agencies and developed a theory of server virtualization security training for IT professionals. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to discover the opinions and perceptions of IT professionals in American rail transit agencies regarding the consequences of the seeming gap in security training in server virtualization technologies. The study investigated 20 IT professionals from American rail transit agencies. Open-ended interviews were used to collect primary data from the IT professionals and the goal was to develop a theory from the themes that emerged from the data regarding server virtualization security training. From the data, a new theory of Server Virtualization Security Training Model emerged. This theory is made up of server virtualization security risks and security training constructs. Server virtualization security training theory is for IT professionals who support server virtualization technologies in their respective agencies. The findings of this study are also expected to assist the IT professionals to understand server virtualization and its pitfalls. In addition, it affords them an opportunity to understand the proper way to implement server virtualization technologies within their agencies, especially from the security point of view. The conclusions indicated that American rail transit agencies do not have server virtualization security training in place.