Businesses across all sectors are seeing they have one major thing in common. Loss of data. With the current explosion of technology enabling software developers in biometrics to constantly upgrade programs, securing the data center is a critical and necessary area of focus for company mangers and executives. A Data Center Dynamics report recently stated that many companies are moving from keeping data in on-site physical facilities to a colocation strategy in a quest for tighter security for vital information.
The benefits of colocation
The typical data center has five layers of security, preferably biometric technology, to ensure against unauthorized access. Fingerprint scanning for biometric access control is an almost fool-proof way of locking down the data center but colocating different batches of data to virtual data centers in different locales can make that information more secure.
Again, in this situation, biometric security stands at the forefront of burgeoning technology as the strongest and most effective method of protecting both the physical and proprietary information the center contains.
Does the data center need to be overhauled?
Because of the vast new technologies arriving on the market every day and the resultant rise of threats and criminal activity a recent report in ZDNet suggested that instead of piece-meal updating of the data center, why not overhaul it completely? While using fingerprint technology can go great lengths to making sure the data center is safe and protected from external threats, internal malfeasance remains an on-going and very real problem. ZDNet suggested that monitoring the janitorial and maintenance staffs along with delivery personnel is a must and delivery employees should be escorted in and around sensitive applications and equipment to prevent any untoward behavior. Anyone, said the report, who is not an employee should not be wandering around the data center unaccompanied.
Implications of the cloud on data center security
How does all the new cloud computing technology affect data center security and the use of biometric technology? A Biometric News report suggested that with multi-tenant data centers each business housed there would provide their own biometric resources to access their intellectual data. Working with biometrics in a cloud environment provides businesses with a very quick set-up time – minutes with the click of a mouse, according to Biometric News. Services on-demand for biometrics and other disciplines and applications can be canceled or added in an instant and the overall cost is not too extravagant for small and medium businesses.
How biometrics technology helps
The beauty of biometrics to business is the utilization of unique identifying characteristics to each individual employee. In the fingerprint scanning process an employee provides their fingerprint and it is scanned into a secured database. The print is then analyzed in portions and matched to the employee. The employee then uses a fingerprint reader installed at a secure access point. If the print and the employee trying to gain access match, the door opens and the worker is let inside. No match? No access and the person trying to gain entry is usually detained and questioned.
Other technologies, passcards and keys, for example, can be stolen, hacked or lost, causing a huge nightmare for security personnel and company management. While many businesses still use these methods to secure their data centers companies that have deployed colocation strategies receive biometric security in many settings, according to ZDNet. While there are still vulnerabilities in the network areas new technological advances made daily are going great lengths to alleviating those problems and making the colocation of the data center in a multi-tenant facility more palatable and successful for executive management.
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