Data Center Security

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Data Center Security Mean?

Data center security is the pursuit of practices that make a data center more secure from a range of different kinds of threats and attacks. The data center, as a major primary resource for companies, deserves this kind of dedicated security effort.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Data Center Security

Data centers are integral repositories for business data. Typically, these central IT infrastructures are served by sophisticated networking equipment and resources. They will take in business data from diverse places, and store it for eventual use. Complex designs may use IT tools called middleware to usher data to and from a data center or otherwise guide it within the system. Data center security aims to make that data less accessible to hackers or anyone else who may seek unauthorized access.

One type of data center security is physical security. Experts may recommend various kinds of facilities or site security such as setbacks, landscaping, thick walls, and other aspects of a building that will create physical barriers around the data center. Another main component of data center security is essentially network security. Because data centers are served by networks, security engineers need to plan adequate protections into those network trajectories that run to a data center. That may mean installing firewalls, anti-virus programs, or anything that prevents data breaches or other security issues.

Data center security may also vary according to the type of data center in question. For example, identifying a data center according to one of four tiers shows how fault tolerant that system is and what kind of security it may need. Generally, a lot of experts tend to recommend redundant utilities for data centers, such as multiple power sources, multiple environmental controls and more. Adequate security for a data center may also depend on the level of network virtualization that is used, or on other aspects of complex IT setups.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.