A new age of data centre security

Author: Beatrice

This article was written by Amy Young, Sales Director at Custodian Data Centres on the new age of data centre security.

The last two years have, in many cases, shown MSPs and their partners that the security protocols they had in place to protect their customers were less than robust. As you read this, the latest review of the 2018 Network and Information Systems (NIS) regulations is taking place. Initially designed to protect national data infrastructures, the regulations are proposed to expand their remit to include MSPs and their partners.

According to the latest Global Threat 2022 Report from Crowdstrike, 62% of cybersecurity incidents detected were malware-free, illustrating a significant shift in attack vectors. However, ransomware continues to be a major component in malicious attacks, with PwC concluding that business leaders expect these attacks to increase by over 60% in 2022.

However, it’s the expansion of the threat perimeter that will deliver the most challenges to CTOs as they re-imagine their enterprises within a post-pandemic business landscape. For them, choosing MSPs and their partners with security top of the agenda is imperative to include composable and mesh cybersecurity architectures.

Named as the foundation of cybersecurity, data centres connect and integrate security services with their customers to create a holistic ecosystem that enterprises can use to secure every aspect of their business processes. This integration also ensures all remote workers have secure tools they can use with absolute confidence, providing consistent security and expertise.

Cyberattack incident responses are also a critical component of every business’s contingency planning. A lesson learnt from the pandemic is that more resilience and strategic planning is needed to avoid or mitigate unforeseen incidents in the future. As enterprises switch permanently to mass remote working, the dispersed geography that now defines many business structures need the support of dynamic service organisations who have developed new secure event-driven architectures.

Proactive security

Robust and comprehensive digital security is based upon well-defined protocols. Enterprises must work with data partners not only accredited with ISO 27001 and PCI DSS facilities, but who also take security extremely seriously, in order to protect their business. These are the basis for secure, optimised and resilient organisations.

Creating adaptive systems will have the twin advantage of meeting all the regulatory compliance and delivering on the ground practical cyberattack defences. MSPs are reliant on their data centres to rapidly evolve and adapt to provide these future-forward secure environments. As new threats are identified, their services expand, re-focus and implement automatic security protocols to protect users and their data.

Securing your future

The level and diversity of cyberattacks facing businesses of all sizes show little sign of abating. The Cybersecurity Breaches Survey from last year showed that two in five (39%) of companies reported a cybersecurity incident, with nearly a third (27%) being attacked weekly.

The threats facing businesses today and those they will face in the future, require a dynamic approach to cybersecurity and physical security. Data centre services must have a dynamic and flexible solution available to meet the changing needs of their clients.

Security systems must also be intelligent. The advent of AI (particularly machine learning) leads to a new breed of security services that can use massive datasets and offer business users predictive analytics to indicate potential security issues across their networks and infrastructure. These evolving services are particularly important as advanced persistent threats continue to rise.

It is, however, vital to also place cyber security within the context of the physical environment it inhabits. To have a truly 360-degree view of the threat landscape an enterprise faces, physical assets must also be protected. Data centres that use CCTV, biometric identification, and state-of-the-art systems to suppress fire and flood are now an essential part of a comprehensive security strategy.

In order to thrive post-pandemic, businesses need to be resilient and agile, this agility includes how they secure their assets and data. Optimised mission-critical data centres can deliver the comprehensive security enterprises and MSPs now demand in this ever-transforming digital landscape.