It’s been documented that Microsoft fights off more than 7 trillion cyber threats per day, and allocates around $1 billion every year to cyber-security for its cloud data centres. While your data centre may not see a Microsoft amount of cyber threats per day or spend as much annually, it is vital that you have a comprehensive plan in place for the protection of your digital data from theft or corruption.

Effective Data Centre Cyber security Procedures

Vital data centrecyber-security procedures include encrypted devices, firewalls, IDS/IPS, SIEM’s, SOC’s, stringent physical security, with documented procedures and clearly-defined business protocols to be followed correctly by all employees.

If your business has considered cyber-security a priority, you may have protected your main entry point. Cyber secure conscious businesses integrate oversight to their c-suite team and add a new role of chief security officer. Rigorous audits are common and important compliance standards could include but are not limited to; NIST 800-53 PE and FISMA, SSAE-18 (SOC 1)/ISAE 3402, PCI DSS, HIPM, HITRUST and ISO27001.

With these measures in place, businesses are more likely to fight off most cyber-attacks. However, history has shown that no safeguard is impenetrable, and a common theme is woven into the most famous and costly breaches. Uber is a great example as seen below;

Uber 

Uber CEO Dara Khosrow Shahi announced two hackers stole the personal data of 57 million Uber users, including numbers, emails, names and the driver’s license numbers of 600,000 Uber drivers in late 2016.

The hackers got in through Uber’s GitHub account, a site its engineers use to code applications and track projects. There, hackers found the username and password to access Uber user data. GitHub is an engineering development site – not associated with any customer or driver accounts. However, it located on the same network.

Securing Your Greater Digital Ecosystem

Its vital to think about your entire IT ecosystem with a view that sees beyond the boundaries of your IT room. In the data centre, most of the focus has been on defending the core where all the servers and storage are located. It’s important to look at cyber protection from all perspectives and all domains of the data centre. Data centres are sometimes conceived, designed, constructed, and managed in 3 domains – IT Room, Power and Building (cooling). Knowing where your IT systems are weak is the key to protecting them. As we have seen from the examples, once cyber criminals get inside your firewalls, they can navigate their way to private customer data or even shut down your business functions or power.