How You Can Prevent Internal Data Security Threats

Data center security is the key to business operations running smoothly. With cyber crime and hacking gaining momentum, security administrators work relentlessly to ensure that their data environments are safe and protected. One area which is often ignored is the threat to critical data that exists from within a firewalled network. Combating back door vulnerabilities in data center procedures is a must and can be easily achieved by:

• Having an organization security policy that reflects current business requirements and is constantly updated.
• Having dedicated personnel responsible for implementation of the security policy with an eye on internal security.

Many instances have been reported where the root cause of outages have been internal. In fact, 60% of your security threats come from within. Here is a list of internal data security threats that can be prevented by introducing easy control mechanisms in the data center.

Internal Access Rights: Giving higher than necessary access rights to data center maintenance processes and technical staff that execute the processes can be tricky; it can lead to internal security breaches. Very often, technical staff that manage the data center is perceived to be the most trustworthy and deserving of higher access rights by default. Maintaining an organized access rights matrix with levels of security defined for each operation and user type, and diligently following this process even in high pressure situations, can help resolve this issue. For example, tape backup processes execute in privileged mode often at the network, data repository, and operating system levels. By gaining access to this tape backup infrastructure, hackers can easily penetrate into an organization’s most sensitive data.

Firewall Configurations: A firewall’s rule base is the technical implementation of the organization’s security policy. This is a very complicated piece and is often ignored once installed. Forgotten parts of the network, either direct or through Wi-Fi channels, can be exploited for unauthorized access into the data center environment.

Personal Devices: With management wanting to please their employees with mobility options, the risk to an organization’s security increases exponentially. Unencrypted laptops and mobile devices offer open windows for security attacks. Even though enforcing security policies on personal equipment is time-consuming and difficult to manage and control, it needs to be done diligently with high priority.

Bottom line is you need to be smart and safe. At Lifeline Data Centers, we have security measures in place to make sure this doesn’t happen. We have a great relationship with our employees, and we have a secure data center. Contact us today for more information.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.