Planning Effective Data Center Security for Organizations

For any enterprise today, data center security is of key importance. Enterprise security depends to a very great extent on data center security and hence data center security services are of utmost importance.

Enterprises should give due importance to procuring and assembling the right mix of security tools and solutions. Data center security is a difficult and challenging kind of terrain, with lots of issues and threats that need to be redressed and resolved. The important question to ask is, Is your AWS cloud secure? At a time when data has crossed the frontiers of conventional databases and reside even in virtualized spaces, data center security services span countries and continents and extend to supply chains, business partnerships, microservices etc. Hence, to ensure proper data center security, it’s important that enterprises tend not to limit themselves to just choosing an apt open source data loss prevention software. Data center security today is much more than that.

From the very basic antivirus software onwards, any security software is chosen keeping in mind the requirements. Hence, when it comes to data center security too, the decisions have to be made keeping in mind the requirements of the enterprise plus the specific characteristics of the computing environment that needs to be secured. Clarity is required as regards the locations where data is stored, how data flows through the enterprise’s network, how cloud systems and other systems are involved and such other critical aspects. Before deciding upon what open source data loss prevention software is to be used, a thorough review and analysis of all systems in an enterprise network needs to be done. It’s then that the data center security provider is chosen. There are certain basic things that need to be kept in mind while planning data center security for an organization. Let’s take a look at these important aspects of data center security-

Focus on physical security

Sometimes it happens that while seeking to secure data, applications and systems, we tend to ignore one very basic thing, namely physical security. Securing the physical environment is as important as any other aspect of cybersecurity. So, as regards data center security too, ensuring proper physical security is important. The presence of an unauthorized person in the data center could be a major issue; such a person could steal, destroy or alter data. Hence, it’s important that physical security is ensured. There should be proper and adequate access controls to protect the physical environment where data resides, especially where there are systems that contain sensitive data or regulated data. Using access cards or other biometric systems to control access in such physical environments is important. There should be proper monitoring also to ensure better security; cameras could help a lot.

Focus on network security controls as well

Since a data center is also a hub for incoming and outgoing data, it’s very important to focus on network security controls as well. Use traditional network and data security tools to ensure overall data center security. Security tools like antivirus software, firewalls, endpoint security software, application security software etc need to be used. Ensuring that proper network security controls are in place thus is key to data center security.

Don’t forget the importance of cloud and virtualization

Organizations today depend on virtualization and cloud computing companies, and these happen to be central to data center security as well. Organizations use specific services like Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure etc and these require different and specific tools to take care of data protection. This is an important area and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Secure the different data center tiers

Organizations would have different and distinct data center tiers as per their business requirements. It’s important that efforts are made to secure the different data center tiers as part of ensuring proper data security. Backups, planning things pertaining to data redundancy etc are part of this.

Plan the placing of the data center is important

The placing of the data center is also important. Go for locations that have a suitable climate and which are not much prone to natural disasters. It’s also good to plan locations where you can ensure better physical security.