As the incidence of major data breaches grow, it can be increasingly difficult for a business to implement the right security platform. Unfortunately, the world is full of cybercriminals who want nothing more than to get their hands on valuable information belonging to company and its clients. Firewalls and other blockers are a good start, but hackers are ahead of the curve – even the best Internet security features can succumb to a well-versed cyberthief.

What that said, however, there is a method that offers top notch data security – biometric technology. Data centers that guard their assets using biometric access control are far less likely to experience a breach. That's because biometric security is essentially a lock-and-key method – only the lock is a fingerprint reader and the key is an individual's unique fingerprint. Only those staff members with adequate security clearance have a chance of gaining entry. In this way, biometrics offer the best security platform available.

Data centers that are looking to leverage a security system in order to protect valuable data should understand that there are three aspects to cybersecurity. Once these companies understand the three facets, they will be better prepared to implement a comprehensive security solution.

The three keys to data security
In a keynote address at November's annual Advanced Cyber Security Center conference in Boston, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff listed the three fundamentals of data security, Enterprise Networking Planet reported.

"If your view [of cybersecurity is] 'prevention, prevention, prevention, that's all I'm focused on,' that is gonna be doomed to failure," Chertoff cautioned his audience. "You're not gonna eliminate the risk of cyber attacks; this is about managing the risk."

  1. Threat: First and foremost, a company must recognize who is out there with the intent of causing harm. These actors range from basic criminals looking for money, to spies who want to steal company secrets as leverage, to politically motivated hackers or state-based spies with global schemes.
  2. Vulnerability: After a data center identifies the threats, it's time to turn their focus inward and determine where they themselves are open to attack. Chertoff maintained that no organization is utterly impregnable – inconsistencies will always linger. It's important to envision scenarios in which data might be compromised, determine an appropriate security budget and build an outline based on those factors.
  3. Consequences: Risk management is a broad application of tactics across various fields rather than an intense focus on a single area, Chertoff explained. It's important that a company have a predetermined outline in place that can handle a data breach with speed, accuracy and breadth – including training staff to know exactly what to do and when to do it.

Before Chertoff signed off he drew a comparison between a company's data security system and the human body's ability to defend against disease.

"The human body is a risk-management enterprise; it's actually not a bad model," Chertoff offered. "[Y]our body is configured on the expectations that there will be bacteria and viruses" and the immune system is their to analyze and protect any threats that come its way.

As it turns out, the human body can be an effective tool to defend against cyberthreats in a more literal way. Every person comes equipped with his or her unique personal identification information – fingerprints, retina and other biometric details. By using these natural tools as ways to prevent unwanted intruders, biometric technology can provide reliable and compliant access control ranging from the front door of the data center all the way to each individual server cabinet.