The security of a data center is maintained via the activities and preparations that safeguard it from dangers, assaults, and unlawful access. Physical safety, requiring site planning to limit physical break-ins, and network security, where security engineers install firewalls and anti-malware applications to prevent breaches, are data center protection aspects.

Social engineering refers to several strategies that hackers, fraudsters, and cybercriminals exploit human fallibility. Social engineering is becoming increasingly important for data center security. Educating and maintaining users about good security habits through awareness campaigns helps to ensure that authorized individuals do not inadvertently give information to unauthorized people, who can then use it to break existing security measures.

Three critical needs in data center security

Visibility

To secure the data center, there must be an insight into users, devices, networks, applications, workloads, and processes. Visibility makes it simpler to detect performance bottlenecks, which aids incapacity planning. In addition, an advanced security tool may assist you in detecting attacks and identifying illicit insiders who are attempting to extract sensitive information or bring operations to a halt.

Improved information visibility after an event and post-incident forensics aid in detecting how extensively critical systems were compromised and what information was taken.

Segmentation

By limiting the scope of an attack across the data center, segmentation restricts its capacity to propagate from one resource to the next. For servers on delayed patch cycles, segmentation is a critical instrument. It reduces the chance that a vulnerability will be exploited before sufficient patch qualification and deployment into production are finished. In addition, segmenting is essential for legacy systems to safeguard resources that don’t get maintenance releases or patch updates.

Threat protection

Data centers must safeguard their applications and data from an increasingly sophisticated range of dangers and local attacks. Many organizations are under attack, and many have been hacked, but they are unaware of it.

Security professionals have difficulty keeping up with the rapid pace of change in today’s data centers. Workloads are constantly shifting across physical data centers and multi-cloud environments. As a result, the underlying security policies must be modified dynamically to enable real-time policy enforcement and security orchestration as the workload travels. For example, if you’re using a public cloud provider, you may be exposed to a scenario in which one customer tries to steal the data breach or alter the records.

How to secure a data center

Data and information infrastructure security have always been a significant issue for businesses, but it has taken the spotlight recently as IT systems migrate to cloud platforms.

Data Center owners have worked hard to provide the highest level of security. They have meticulously followed industry best practices for security and met all compliance standards, which has always been a critical aspect of Data center design and architecture. However, Data Centers are complicated systems that must be safeguarded uniquely, and each component’s security needs must be addressed separately while also adhering to a standard, holistic security policy.

Every data center requires some security to ensure its continued operation. Some features of “security” comprise uptime elements such as numerous power sources, adjustable temperature controls, etc. The most basic level is the root, which is a template for all other tiers. It has to service each of the four business processes and set an appropriate criterion for cooling, maintenance, and fault tolerance. The purpose of each tier is to demonstrate how fault-tolerant that system is—measured in uptime—and what kind of security it may

Physical Data Center Security

For keeping the data secure, it is critical to protect the Data Center facility and its elements against physical attacks. The DC SuperSite data center building must withstand a range of physical dangers, including terrorist attacks, industrial accidents, and natural catastrophes. Various tactics are used to enhance physical security, including DC design with thicker walls and fewer windows and doors, CCTV surveillance, fire protection, and specialized security guards.

Secure Location

Secure facilities should be located in a safe zone, such as: 

  • An area that is not vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, or fires.
  • A bland, non-commercial exterior.
  • Physical barriers to prevent forced entry.
  • Limited entry points.

Physical Access Controls

The most effective strategies for data center security are to use defense in depth. The first step is to establish a perimeter. To create this barrier, you must set up several separations levels and control access to each layer.

Biometric readers might be used to gain access at the outset, followed by security controls staff verifying sign-in. After passing through the data center’s electronic door, users will be assigned to one of several zones depending on their account and access level. Furthermore, video surveillance is throughout the facility to ensure that no unauthorized personnel gain access.

Secure Building Management Systems

Securing these vital revenue-generating facilities necessitates addressing a variety of technologies, from industrial control systems (ICS) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices that manage HVAC, power, and water to physical security and building access controls. System administrators use it to maintain logins and passwords, track activity, and control access from external locations. It also includes tools used by outsourced vendors, facility personnel, and engineers to manage OT equipment and servers.

Digital Data Center Security

The data center is entering a new era of transformation. The days of air-gapped cyber and physical security are long gone. Instead, the data center is kept safe and secure using hundreds or even thousands of sensors for real-time telemetry—heating and cooling, maintenance warnings, physical security, etc. 

Data Centers have always been considered highly secure. As a result, data center owners have worked hard to provide the most significant degree of security possible while adhering to industry best practices for safety and fulfilling all legal requirements. However, data centers are complex ecosystems to defend, and protecting them necessitates the security need of redundant capacity components while still adhering to a central, holistic security strategy.

Data Center IT Security Access Controls

Because data centers contain all of a company’s information, they are frequently targeted by hackers. To prevent data center breaches, access limitations are put in place. These restrictions control access to the data center’s physical location and apply to all devices.

Everything the firm does to protect against access from physical items and the controls that oversee them has considered a data center security features best practice. However, before a firm may restrict data center access and put in place appropriate authorities, it must complete a risk analysis.

Use the Right Security Tool for the Job

The challenge of providing robust security across multiple applications, vendors, and cloud computing platforms is only compounded by the need to secure sensitive data across numerous apps. Data centre security services may often extend across countries and continents, encompassing joint ventures, commercial connections, and procurement chains. Today, data – as demonstrated by the rise of Big Data – resides in both traditional and virtualized locations, such as containers and microservices. It’s critical to have the appropriate solutions to address these data center security issues comprehensively.

Of course, every computing environment is unique, and it’s critical to discover and use the right data center security services for each condition. Cloud security, for example, is an entirely different beast than on-premise data center security. This entails a detailed knowledge of your network topography, including how data is stored and transported through networks and how clouds and other systems affect the application and data security.

Final Thoughts: Why does data center security matter?

The data center is where your network computers, servers, and other critical components are kept. It’s the safest place for your data during a calamity.

By following the data center security best practices below, you can keep your servers, network, and other related equipment as secure as possible:

  • Put physical security precautions to prevent undesirable persons from accessing your network and data stored equipment.
  • Ensure only those who require access (both physical and virtual) have it by implementing and enforcing access restrictions.
  • Create an effective virtual security program that addresses numerous online safety concerns.
  • Keep everything up to date and patched to eliminate known vulnerabilities.
  • It would help if you had backup systems and data backups that you could trust.

You have less control over the physical security measures in place if you’re considering using a cloud or managed-to-host service provider than if you were to use an in-house data center. However, you may request compliance reports from the service provider to help you feel more confident in its security capabilities.