The Hot Topic – Security Challenges Data Centres Could be Facing in the Future

During the past few years, with the pandemic forcing many companies and employees to operate from home, the data centre market has accelerated at a much faster pace.

According to a Data Centre Europe report, the European data centre market is expected to grow by up to 46% in the next 4 years. The digitalisation of the workplace is now pushing the growth of data centres, so we wanted to know with this boost in the market, what are the future challenges in security facing data centres?

One of the most prevalent issues facing data centres with such a high growth over the next 4 years will be the increased likelihood of physical break-ins and unauthorised intrusions. Only 5 days ago, an attempted robbery at a Cryptocurrency Data Centre in Abkhazia led to a gunfight. Even within low crime-rated areas like Iceland, a hub for data centres and cryptocurrency mining, saw a £1.5 million heist taking place. This data centre even had a security guard on hand, however, they had taken a nap whilst an individual broke onto site and stole items worth up to £388,000 for the hardware alone not including the Bitcoin. According to the article, this attack was the fifth cryptocurrency data centre in Iceland to be hit in two months. Human error is a very common thing, mistakes happen but when it comes to data, there must be systems in place that work in conjunction with manned stations to prevent these attacks. Therefore, physical security for data centres is such an important part and shouldn’t be overlooked on any security strategy. If a physical security measure had been put in place that would delay or deter these intruders, then it could have given the security guard time to prevent any attack.