Six Measures To Strengthen Data Center Security

The data center is the information resource library of modern society, which can provide various data services. It interacts with the outside world through the Internet and responds to service requests. As an important node on the Internet, the data center is also faced with common threats from other nodes: viruses, worms, trojans, backdoors and logical bombs.

Currently, in response to various security threats, enterprises not only adopt antivirus technology, firewall technology, intrusion detection technology, and database security auditing, but also strengthen data center security through the following measures.

·Setting physical property boundaries, regardless of the type of data center, the basic security measure is to set up surrounding physical property boundaries, which generally include signs, fences, and other important forms of perimeter defense.

·Set up a security boundary, which involves monitoring 24 * 7 security personnel, cameras, smart fences, and other perimeter defense systems. Once someone enters the second layer of security defense, the company's security personnel and related equipment will closely monitor their every move.

·Security checks allow individuals who have physical access to the data center, that is, every person authorized to enter the data center, to undergo security checks. Individuals entering the data center must provide identification and complete a scan to confirm their identity. In addition, most data centers only allow one person to pass through one door at a time to ensure that only authorized personnel enter.

·The Security Operations Center (SOC), also known as the brain of security systems, is capable of continuously monitoring data centers 7 * 24 * 365. The SOC connects to the aforementioned security layers and is monitored by a selected group of security personnel.

·Core data control refers to the control of the data storage location, i.e. the data center floor. Here, security is much stricter, and only technical personnel and engineers can repair, maintain, or upgrade equipment. Even on site, technicians and engineers can only access the equipment and cannot access the data itself, as all stored data is encrypted.

·Safe destruction equipment, in this scenario, has fewer accessible personnel, and only technical personnel assigned to the destruction room can access the equipment. Their responsibilities include scanning, demagnetizing (magnetic media only), and destroying retired equipment. When destroying equipment, it is usually done by one person removing the equipment and another person taking it and destroying it; A secure two-way access system can also be used to implement destruction.

In addition, when technicians destroy equipment, if the equipment is a magnetic medium, the best practice recommended by NSA is to first demagnetize the equipment. The demagnetizer uses a powerful magnetic field to demagnetize magnetic tapes and hard drives (HDDs), rendering the drives completely inoperable. This way, even skilled hackers cannot obtain any information from the demagnetized drives!

After demagnetization is completed, the next step is to physically damage the drive/device, which can be achieved through crushing and/or shredding actions. Demagnetization and destruction can ensure that information is not leaked and provide excellent security when destroying scrap data. The process of leaving the data center is as meticulous as entering, with each departing visitor being scanned by a metal detector and returned level by level to ensure that visitors do not take any equipment with them.

Currently, data centers have made significant progress in data security, ensuring that data stored and managed by enterprises will not fall into the hands of illegal elements through various means and defense mechanisms.