A data center is a dedicated space within a building or a group of buildings used to house computer and storage systems. The network systems in a data center are for data processing and distribution. Data centers deliver essential services such as data storage backup and recovery, data management, and networking.
This article explains industry-based standards for designing a secure data center. You may not realize it, but your data center security architecture should meet relevant industry standards. Read on to see what standards you may need to adopt.
What Is Data Center Security?
All data centers require some security structure to guarantee nonstop usage. Data center security refers to the physical procedures and software managed to protect a data center from external and internal dangers, assaults, and manipulations. Data security can be classified as physical security and software security.
Physical Security: includes extensive processes and methods managed to prevent external intrusions. Some methods are locations away from highways, high wall boundaries, defense surveillance.
Software Security: aids in deterring cybercriminals from infiltrating the system by bypassing the firewall, breaking passwords, or through other loose ends. Software Tools that provide visibility and control over the security system are security information and event management tools (SIEM). Another way is creating layered secure zones in the network. This is usually monitored by administrators.
Every enterprise and government body needs its own data center or access to someone else’s. Data centers are needed to aid business applications and actions that involve:
- Email and file sharing
- Productivity applications
- Customer relationship management
- Enterprise resource planning
- Artificial Intelligence and machine learning
- Communication and collaboration services
To learn about data center security standards, you need to know the core components of a data center. They include:
- Servers
- Routers
- Firewalls
- Switches
- Storage system
- Application delivery controllers
Because all the above components house and manage critical applications and data, it’s important to guard your data center against unauthorized access and data exfiltration. Therefore, data center security is crucial in designing a data center.
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Who Needs Data Center Security and Why?
Data center security is necessary for any organization that stores vital information in data centers. This goes for almost every industry; either it’s on-premise or on cloud servers, or in the private and commercial sectors.
From financial companies that house payment and cardholder data to hospitals that keep private health information, data center security solutions are designed to ensure that hackers aren’t able to breach that central repository of critical information.
Every organization needs to consider data center security solutions, either they utilize data centers themselves or via a partner.
Why You Need a Secure Data Center
You need a secure data center for data protection. This is because the consequence of a violation of a security system has serious impacts on the data center and on the clients whose data has been violated.
To prevent internal onslaughts that may occur, protection against software exposure is important.
Let’s also see common attacks that may take place when a data center is not secure.
1. Scanning or Probing
In this case, a request is sent to several server port addresses on an active port. This is done to cause harm through the weakness in that service port.
2. Denial of service (DoS)
Denial of service occurs when the right owners are not allowed access into their network systems, gadgets, or other system resources as a result of a hostile threat.
3. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
DDoS happens when a type of DoS (mentioned above) occurs and a hefty number of systems are jeopardized and used as an in-sync attack.
4. Illegitimate entry into the system
This is when another person other than the legitimate user obtains privileges associated with a compromised account to access restricted information.
Having shown the importance of a secure data center and the consequences of having an insecure data center, let’s see what data center security design means.
What Does Data Center Security Design Mean?
Data center design or data center security architecture is the procedure of sampling and designing the data center’s information resources, architectural setup, and every other infrastructure.
It aids the realistic concept of a data center before the actual execution in a company or in an information technology environment. Although the term data center is broad, it involves numerous procedures and systems. A data center design may be on paper or designed illustrations of networks or a combination of both. Some elements of what is contained in a data center design are:
- Quantity and variety of needed servers.
- System format and equipment.
- Software for enterprise resource planning (ERP).
- Software for customer relationship management (CRM).
- Software for data center management or any other required software.
- A physical facility that houses all equipment.
- Data center energy, cooling, and ventilation systems.
- Physical data center protection.
- crisis recovery, and business continuity planning.
Data Center Security Standards
Data center security standards provide guidance on regulations and ensure that the best procedures are observed when establishing and running a data center. These standards involve both design satisfactory methods and execution features. A perfect understanding of data center security standards will help you in selecting a service provider.
Special institutions such as the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the Telecommunication Industry Association are some of the institutions that assist in developing the standards.
A data center management system should always assess its security’s impacts on traffic flow, blunders, and scalability.
Security standards depend on the preferred data design. It also takes different activities of the data center into account. The company’s business goal is another factor for security standards.
Information Security Management System Standards
The following are standards identified as satisfactory conditions for data center security:
1. Facility Regulations
Facility regulations ensure that the data center facility meets the minimum facility layout conditions specified for a data center, such as adequate ventilation, fire-proof construction materials, and suppression equipment.
2. Data Security
Data security regulations guarantee the defense of data loaded on the servers utilizing requirements developed by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS),
3. Structure and Durability
The structure and durability standard ensure that architectural structures are constructed with the ability to recover from probable equipment failure by having separate alternatives in the facility.
For instance, energy reserves to a data center must come from two unique energy providers. If one fails, the second starts immediately. This is to ensure that there is no power outage from both sources.
4. Health and Protection of Personnel and Guests
These are regulations for the health and protection of the data center personnel and guests to avoid accidents.
Closing Thoughts
Institutions whose data centers meet data center security standards are guaranteed the protection of their critical data.
Some companies know the importance of cybersecurity in creating a reliable data center security architecture. Selecting a data center design suitable for your company can be complicated.
RSI Security is here to help you make more informed decisions about your data center security services. Our data center security services are designed to improve data protection, create a plan to stay ahead of hackers, and provide the necessary knowledge for an effective response if data center breaches occur.Find out more about our data center security services.