Hardening the Edge

Physical security at data centers is just as important as its virtual counterpart

In the cyber world, security is constantly at the forefront. Companies train their employees on how to recognize phishing attempts, they buy software that protects their networks, they take a zero trust approach to sensitive data. But what often goes undiscussed is that there are vulnerabilities in the physical world as well as the virtual one. Any of that data that’s on the cloud or on the edge is stored on servers in a data center. Though you might never set foot there or even know where it is, that data center is in a physical place, and keeping it secure is a big deal for businesses.

Limited Access

Data centers aren’t just rows of servers sitting by themselves. People work there. Depending on the data center, there can be engineers, administrators, support staff, and designers. Vendors and technicians can be going in and out constantly. Simply put, there are a lot of people coming through, and they all need to be vetted. Whether ill-intentioned or not, each person coming in and out poses an insider threat. Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report shows that nearly 70% of data breaches involved a “non-malicious human element, like a person falling victim to a social engineering attack or making an error.”

With so much activity during the day and valuable equipment in often isolated areas at night, data centers need adequate fencing and barriers so that all visitors are routed to secure entry points and that trespassers face lots of obstacles to unauthorized entry. They need security guards, but with more than 5,000 data centers in the U.S. and security agencies already at low staffing levels, there might not be enough to go around.

In the physical world too, a zero-trust approach can limit the vulnerabilities. “Anything outside or within the security perimeter is not trusted, and everything attempting to gain access must be verified. Access accounts can be managed, and devices tracked and monitored,” Cameron Walker-Miller, director of standards and technology at the Security Industry Association (SIA) told StateTech.

Biometric scanners that measure unique physical characteristics such as fingerprints, irises, and even finger vein patterns – as offered by ZKTeco – of authorized personnel are a costly but necessary investment. They’re far more foolproof than ID cards that can be spoofed or stolen. Even with that, well-secured data centers also have high-definition CCTV cameras like the Arlo Pro 5S 2K sportlight to monitor what those authorized personnel are doing once they’re inside. Even once allowed in, not everyone coming in needs access to every part of the data center. Those who have no business in a certain section shouldn’t be able to gain entry, much like least-privilege security in the virtual world.

Even the servers themselves need to be enclosed and monitored. “For each motherboard that you use for a data center application, you could protect it by putting it into a secure enclosure with sensors around it,” Worcester Polytechnic Institute computer engineer Shahin Tajik told StateTech. “As soon as somebody tries to tamper with your system, there is a sensor that raises an alarm.”

Every time someone enters and every time someone exits, that needs to be tracked.

Keeping Online

Of course, the physical realm has something not found in the virtual world: weather. Physical security at data centers must protect everything from the elements. It starts with water, lots and lots of it. Data centers can use up to 5 million gallons of water each day keeping servers cool. Applications such as deep learning models and graphic processing units used for machine learning can generate considerable heat, necessitating all that cooling water as well as fire suppression systems and flood sensors. The threat of overheating is such a concern that China has begun placing data centers in seawater. Temperature, humidity, and moisture levels need constant monitoring.

“As data storage demand rises and chip density increases, data centers face increasing challenges with cooling technologies, including broader temperature ranges, reduced energy and water use, noise reduction, and limited space,” Johnson Controls president of data center solutions Todd Grabowski told Manufacturing Digital.

York’s YVAM air-cooled magnetic bearing centrifugal chiller is specifically designed for data centers, cutting energy consumption by 40% to meet energy and water conservation policies. It can operate with no on-site water use and uses a refrigerant with ultra-low Global Warming Potential.

“With its innovative design and industry-leading efficiency, YVAM is set to redefine thermal management in data centers,” Grabowski said.

When the weather turns extreme, data centers provide a crucial lifeline, keeping servers for emergency services online. Staying online is a must.

“During and after natural disasters, hardened data centers enable state and local governments to ensure the reliability and security of their most important applications,” Bruce Kornfeld, chief marketing and product officer at StorMagic, told StateTech. “Extreme climate conditions or power outages can cause major disruptions that affect government services. Hardening edge servers and data centers is key.”

You never know what kind of threat is around the corner, be it from hackers, thieves, rising temperatures, or rising waters. Whatever comes, data centers – the backbone of the digital economy – have to keep running or the whole infrastructure shuts down. The average internet and AI user might not think often of the data centers that power them, but the companies that depend on data centers know protecting them is vitally important to their business.