Network security is important, but now and again it pays to take a look at some of the more traditional parts of your IT organization and to make sure there aren't any gaping holes in your protection you would be sorely embarrassed to discover.

The traditional data center these days is regarded as a fortress compared to the perils of the Internet. For years we have been comforted by properly constructed computer rooms, locked doors to the equipment, fire and flood protection, strict access controls and so on. Do you think the chance of something going wrong in these environments is low? Wrong -- there are high risks in these environments as well, and if a data center does go out of action the impact is tremendous, and if the outage is prolonged it can be very expensive to recover or you may even go out of business.

Air Plenum is a company that for many years has focused on the often-neglected protection of data center environments. Their experience has shown that, especially over long periods of time, weaknesses appear in the physical protection of the environment that go undetected until a risk occurs. They specialize in what is called data center Compartmentalization (making sure that each part of the facility is protected from each of the other part).

When you are dealing with threats of fire, flood or even bomb or terrorist attack, compart-mentalization is vitally important to ensure you are properly safeguarded, and usually any problems found are relatively easy to fix. Over time what might have once been a well-constructed facility may very well have deteriorated to a patchwork of protection. Every time
new equipment is installed or removed, or a new cable is laid, or air conditioning or ventilation systems modified, or even partitions or doors are moved, there is a high probability that once well-organized protection will have been disturbed and new weaknesses will have appeared. Compared to network security holes these are real holes.

What do real holes do? It may mean that your fire extinguishing gas could escape when there is a fire instead of putting the fire out, or a fire may spread into your data center or through it. Temperature or humidity control may be affected pushing up fuel bills or even damaging equipment. Dust and fumes from outside may get into the facility. And simple accumulation of dust, dirt, paper and mess, will increase the chances of false alarm signals, equipment failure and also fire.

Air Plenum has helped some of the best and largest US organizations -- banks, retailers, service providers and manufacturers -- to identify and fix these kinds of problems. They can quickly assess the current state of your data center, and repair the damage to these very critical facilities.

Check out your data center before it's too late -- contact Air Plenum.

Gary is a Computer Science graduate with 30 years experience in the IT industry, originally as a systems developer and project manager, and for the past 24 years as a specialist in IT audit, risk management and performance improvement. Gary has been an active member with ISACA for over 20 years. He has been a board member and has held several leadership positions. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his website at www.itwinners.com

For information about data center vulnerabilities, contact Air Plenum at [email protected] or call us at 800.346.2220 Close Window