Best Practices for Data Center Security in 2022

Data Center Security in 2022

If you looked at data center security best practices only a few years ago, the leading trends and advice would be dramatically different from the leading areas of focus today. Everyone in IT knows that things change fast, but it feels like change has accelerated.

Here’s an example. Network security was the most important thing as recently as 2019. While it’s still paramount, security threats have shifted away from direct attacks. Social engineering and grid stability are actually more important today.

With all of that in mind, there are four up-to-date best practices that can help you think about how things have changed and what you can do to keep up.

Secure More Power

Across the world, power grids are becoming less reliable, and for a lot of reasons. Some of this has to do with aging infrastructure. Some of it has to do with the rapidly changing landscape of power generation and distribution. A fair bit of it is tied to geopolitics.

The simple truth is that your data center is at the mercy of a power grid you cannot directly control. Self-sufficiency in terms of power is the only real measure you can take to ensure that your facilities will remain operational even in the face of power grid issues and failures.

This is also an opportunity. You can explore innovative power solutions, green energy, cheap energy, and anything else that sounds promising. Update how your data center gets its power. As a result, it will become an industry leader on those merits alone.

Educate Staff on Social Engineering

One of the most effective ways to attack a system is with social engineering. This isn’t some lazy phishing scam. Social engineering involves professional-grade cons that can trick smart, informed people despite knowing about a lot of the scams.

Staff needs continued education in terms of social engineering. Explain common cons and how they work. Just as importantly, implement security practices that help prevent these problems. Make sure ID checks are standard and that no exceptions exist. Similarly, standardize credential checks on phone calls and other messages.

If you really want to beat social engineering, you can run red teams. Essentially, they will try to scam your staff with social engineering practices to see where your team is strong and where it needs more education.

Prepare for Staffing Shortages

People always talk about automation, but the motivation has changed dramatically. If the last few years have taught the world anything, it’s that things can change on a dime. Very quickly, you can run into unexpected staffing shortages. If your data center needs a full crew at all times in order to operate, then you aren’t ready for the unexpected, black swan events that clearly can occur at any moment.

Smart automation enables you to keep things running with skeleton crews when necessary. It’s worth investigating and building up a solid automation plan.

Have a Ransomware Plan

Ransomware is a leading threat to data centers. They are easily the most valuable targets, and if you lose access to all of your center’s data, you’re at the complete mercy of your attackers. It’s not a good place to be.

A robust backup plan can help you beat ransomware. You still might suffer downtime, but you can rebuild your systems without hoping that your ransomware attacker really will give back your data after you pay the extortion fees.

Beating ransomware means having more, safer, and more frequently updated backups than ever before.

You’ll notice that trends have changed in recent years. It’s no longer enough to run strong security protocols and powerful software. Data center threats are evolving, and it’s important to evolve ahead of them. These best practices can certainly get the wheels turning, but you can never grow lax on learning more about security and the ever-changing nature of data center protection.

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