Building a Data Center for Physical Security – Part 3

This week we dive into the third and final part in our series on building a data center for physical security. At this point, we’ve discussed at length how threats to the data in our data centers aren’t only coming from hackers. Depending on the sensitivity of the data that you store in your data center, you might find that threats are coming directly at the building as well. Here is the end of our list of considerations to take into account when designing your data center for physical security.

Keep Your Air Clean

Make sure that all of your air conditioning and heating, as well as your ventilation systems all have the option to recirculate the air from inside the building rather than draw it from outside. If there’s ever a chemical or biological attack near you, or even a nearby fire, it’ll help keep your equipment and your staff safe.

Mind Your Walls and Ceilings

Think back to all of those spy movies you’ve seen and make sure that nothing – or no one – can hide inside of them. Walls should run from slab ceiling to sub flooring and any drop ceilings should be secured. You don’t want your center compromised because someone found a hidden access point to hide in.

Check for Prints

In the sensitive areas of your data center, implement biometric security authentication in addition to standard photo identification and access card authentication. Whether you use fingerprint, hand print or retinal scanners, these tools will help to make sure that only those with the proper access can gain access to sensitive areas.

Layer your Security

You obviously don’t want the delivery guy getting access to your server rooms so make sure that you have several security checkpoints between the front door and the more secure areas of the data center. You should have one at the front door, one between the guest waiting area and the employee offices and a final, strictly enforced, checkpoint to get into the actual “data” area of your data center. This final area should be a no piggybacking checkpoint that authenticates every person who goes through it.

Give Your Guests a Place to “Go”

Install guest bathrooms in the guest waiting area and make sure that they’re separated from the more secure areas of the building. That way you don’t have to leave your guests unattended in secure areas if they need to use it.