The cyber threat landscape has never been more urgent, with data centre companies seeking to curb their digital vulnerabilities. Given that data centres store, manage and process large quantities of data, they are susceptible to a constant threat of cyberattacks.
A data centre cyberattack has the potential to be catastrophic and could have devastating implications for operators, businesses and customers. A prevalent issue is threat actors gaining access to sensitive data and exploiting it for their own gain.
With these issues in mind, Data Centre Magazine lists some of the top disaster recovery strategies within the data centre sector and how companies can keep their data safe.
10. Security awareness training
This disaster strategy is a preventative one. By investing further into training and certifications, businesses will be well on their way to creating a more cyber-aware workforce. As a result, they can contribute to a more secure organisation as a first line of defence.
In order to do this, businesses would benefit from working to close their existing skills gaps. Leading cybersecurity Fortinet for example is eager to close the skills gap by training one million people in cyber by 2026.
9. Regular backups
Backups are designed to protect data from loss due to a broad range of hardware and software failures, but notably from cyberattacks. If not backed up properly, threat actors could successfully disable operational systems, especially if those systems are governed digitally.
Data centres are able to provide data backup services and allow organisations to create safety copies of important data, in addition to reinstating data in the instance of loss or damage. Companies like N-able are able to help data centres by offering backup services.
8. Predictive maintenance
Predictive maintenance refers to a more preemptive approach to data centre operation by utilising AI technology to predict what needs repairing.
- According to Deloitte, predictive maintenance is able to increase enterprise productivity by 25%, reduce breakdowns by 70% and lower maintenance costs by 25% - as opposed to reactive maintenance.
The strategy works to help spot when a piece of equipment is about to fail and is quickly becoming a more integrated part of data centre infrastructure. As the digital transformation landscape continues to evolve, industry leaders anticipate that predictive maintenance will boast an even greater presence in data centre facilities – in part thanks to the fast development of AI technologies.
Read more about predictive maintenance in data centres HERE
7. Business impact analysis
A business impact analysis (BIA) is research to collect and identify processes within an organisation to determine the criticality of each process. When it comes to data centres, the strategy is important for identifying and assessing the potential effects of a power failure or network disruption.
It also helps operators understand the risks, dependencies and priorities of a data centre’s critical systems and applications and how these relate to business objectives. Likewise, the strategy can help those working within a data centre communicate with stakeholders, vendors and customers in the event of an outage.
6. Regular testing
Testing and drills are essential for maintaining the security of data centres and for mitigating issues before they arise. There are two main types of testing and drills that data centres can conduct: Tabletop exercises (TTXs) and penetration testing.
TTXs are a low-cost, low-risk way to test a data centre's response to a security incident, by walking through a hypothetical security incident scenario. On the other hand, penetration testing, or pen testing, is more rigorous and involves a third-party company to attempt to penetrate defences. Both TTXs and penetration testing can provide valuable insights into a data centre's security posture.
5. Clear network security strategies
By having a clear network security strategy in place, data centres can protect sensitive information and business-critical applications from cyber attacks, outages and other threats. Data centres will benefit from ensuring network traffic is segmented and routed correctly and safely, prioritising advanced firewalls and detection systems to prevent a data breach.
Harnessing automated technology as a vital tool can also help security teams bolster their operations and better secure the digital space.
4. Incident response plan
The server, storage, and networking equipment in data centres are the essential fabric, holding a company's most valuable assets. If these systems go down, the consequences could be severe for businesses and operators alike.
In order to protect data centres from harm, industry leaders must implement a multi-layered defence strategy which includes physical security measures to protect the facilities from physical threats, such as theft or vandalism, as well as cybersecurity measures to protect data from digital threats, like cyberattacks.
3. Data encryption
Data encryption is essential for data centres, offering tools to manage encryption infrastructure like key management, access control and policy enforcement. Whilst this strategy comes with some challenges, due to its constant evolution, it is necessary in order to protect private information, sensitive data and to enhance the security of communication between client apps and servers.
Likewise, even if other cybersecurity measures fail, encryption can make stolen data virtually unusable to cybercriminals. As encryption needs vary depending on business requirements, organisations like Thales offer a range of data protection solutions to secure business assets regardless of where they are stored.
2. Cloud-based disaster recovery solutions
Disaster recovery that uses the cloud involves harnessing cloud technologies to recover critical data, applications and infrastructure after a disruption. Unlike more traditional disaster recovery, a cloud-based strategy uses cloud connectivity for a near-instant failover in a secure cloud.
Advantages of this strategy include it being easy to configure, scale and its ability to be flexible. Likewise, organisations are also often able to only pay for what they need.
Some of the leading platforms that operate with this solution include the Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure Site Recovery.
1. Risk assessments
Risk assessments are fundamental to disaster recovery in data centres and serve as the foundation for robust business continuity planning. By methodically identifying critical systems, potential failure points and recovery time objectives, organisations can develop targeted strategies to maintain operations during crises.
These assessments are also able to help operators prioritise recovery, resource allocation and backup system planning to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Through this, data centres are able to maintain confidence from their stakeholders and minimise downtime, whilst protecting mission-critical data.
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