Data centers have become prime targets for cyber attacks and the only way to reduce the threat is to increase defenses. With cybercrime rates rising every year, it is easy to become discouraged. Data center leaders may even begin to feel that they will be targeted by hackers no matter how intense their security is. However, most hackers want an easy win, not an arduous battle. By committing to strengthening their security, data centers can ward off hackers and stop attacks before they happen.
How Hackers Are Choosing Their Targets
It is important to remember that hackers more often than not are hoping for an easy score. Only certain types of hackers will go the extra mile to try attacking an especially well-protected network. Additionally, the majority of hackers today are not particularly skilled. At the very least, many hackers participating in recent surges lack comprehensive knowledge.
This is evidenced in the rising popularity of Ransomware-as-a-Service over the past couple of years, alongside the rise in cybercrime. These parallel trends are not a coincidence. More people are trying to get into hacking to turn a profit. However, a lot of them settle for buying RaaS because they aren’t actually that knowledgeable about hacking or don’t want to put in the effort to design their own attack. All these hackers need to know is how to get into a system to begin with. They just need an opening in the castle walls. They pay someone else to finish the attack for them.
This trend may be why, at least in part, attacks on organizations like local governments have also increased over the past few years. One threat analyst commented to the Washington Post, ”’Most ransomware attacks are spray-and-pay in nature, and those hit are the ones with the weakest systems”
Local governments seem to have the weakest systems.”
The phrase ”’spray-and-pay”
is a perfect fit for the threats that data centers are facing today. There may be a lot of attacks occurring, but most of them are not elite-level attacks that break new ground in hacking. Many of these hackers are using little strategy and simply cutting into whatever weak systems they can find.
Utilizing and Responding to Security Trends
These trends reveal a lot about the state of cybercrime today and the types of targets that hackers are eyeing. They want low-effort, high-pay attacks. So, targets that include critical infrastructure, data, or systems are extremely appealing. Within this segment, smaller organizations or low-budget organizations are prime targets because they are more likely to lack intensive security infrastructure. Data centers can use this understanding to ward off a large majority of attackers, knowing that they will be far less interested in high-security targets.
As mentioned above, many of the attacks in the surges of ransomware today are ”’spray-and-pay”
. To illustrate what this means for data centers, simply imagine when dinosaurs escape in the movies. They don’t chase down the people safely sheltered away in the control tower. That is not an easy catch and not worth the dinosaur’s trouble, especially when there are far easier targets running around undefended. Data centers need to position themselves as the people who are bunkered down in the control tower, not exposed out in the open.
This means the first lines of defense need to be the strongest. Data centers that have impenetrable initial defenses will be much more likely to simply be overlooked by many hackers. Regardless of how much data a certain facility might be protecting, the above security trends indicate that most hackers today will simply move on to an easier target if they can’t break in fairly easily. The mission for data centers then is to make sure that attempting a breach is so difficult that it’s not worth any hacker’s time.
Strengthening Data Center Cybersecurity
So, what can data centers do to make themselves undesirable targets? The first step is to take an honest and critical look at what risks a data center currently has. This must be an all-encompassing analysis. As industry experts point out, many of the most common security risks for data centers relate to OT systems, not just IT. Security analysts must also consider the physical facility security as well as technical security.
With an informed risk and threat analysis in hand, data centers need to consider what types of attacks they are most vulnerable to. There are four specific attacks that are leading causes of data center crashes: DDoS, ransomware, external access, and application attacks. It is also worth considering the risks that the Cloud itself poses. Since the Cloud massively expands accessibility, it also expands the potential blast radius of attacks and the potential weak spot openings for attacks.
Once a data center’s security leaders have an in-depth understanding of the risks and threats at play, they can employ specific tactics to deter attacks.
Double Down on Access Management
One of the best ways to combat cyber attacks is maintaining an iron-clad, impenetrable access management system. This extends to devices, users, data, and entire servers, as well as physical spaces. Industry leaders point out that access management is especially important when employees are working remotely since they lack the physical security provided by an office. Remote employees might be using a personal device or working on unsecured WiFi. Strong acces management minimizes the risk that these human error behaviors pose.
As mentioned above, many hackers are relying on their ability to break into a system. If this isn’t possible, they’ll move on to another target. There are numerous technologies that security leaders can use to boost their data center cybersecurity through access management. One of the strongest options is multi-factor authentication, whether through multiple passwords, an authentication app, a password-pin combination, or any other combination of login methods.
Bring in a White Hat Hacker
Many in the industry have heard of white hat hacking but for those who haven’t, it consists of hiring a hacker who only uses their skills for ethical purposes. White hat hackers may even be people who were formerly black hat, gray hat, or any of the other types of unfriendly hackers. These people will be able to look at data center cybersecurity from the perspective of an attacker, offering an invaluable insight into any unnoticed weak spots.
Investing in white hat hacking services is especially valuable in today’s threat landscape. White hat hackers will be able to thoroughly test a data center’s defenses through simulated attacks. They’ll be able to concretely tell how tempting a data center might be to a hacker looking to ”’spray-and-pay”
. This offers a fantastic opportunity to strengthen security in specific areas identified by a real hacker without the risk of an actual breach.
Keep an Eye on Social Media
Awareness is a key element of data center cybersecurity. It is important to keep in mind that the outside world has a significant impact on the shifting threats that specific data centers may face. Physical facility security cannot be overlooked today. Data centers can use tactics like Twitter mining or monitoring social media to stay ahead of potential real-world events that may increase the risk of a cyber attack. This allows data centers to prepare, particularly in terms of strengthening physical facility security.
For example, a data center may be located near an area where mass protests are occurring or where a natural disaster may be expected to hit. Events like these aren’t directly tied to cybercrime. However, they can impact physical conditions such as facility security or power lines, which can increase the risk of a hacker taking advantage of real-world distractions to launch an attack. Hackers are looking for potential weak spots. Data center cybersecurity leaders must keep an eye out for events that could expose their facilities to threats.
Strengthen Every Link
Statistics show that 95% of breaches are the result of human error and 85% of breaches involve some human element. Data center cybersecurity today relies on strengthening every single link in the system including employees. The habits of every single individual working for and at a data center impacts the facility’s overall security. All it takes is one weak password or opening one bad email. The risk is high, too 87% of organizations reported experiencing a phishing attack in 2021 and 79% reported experiencing strategic spearphishing attacks.
The solution to this is increasing awareness and preparedness among employees. When everyone fully understands the risks facing data center cybersecurity, they are more likely to take their own work-related behavior more seriously. Data centers also need to provide concrete training to back up security awareness. When employees know what they can do to help protect data, they are less likely to accidentally drop their defenses for those ”’spray-and-pay”
hackers looking for an easy way in, such as through poor password habits or a malicious email.
Building Intimidating Data Center Cybersecurity
When data center cybersecurity presents a strong, intimidating front, it is more likely to scare away many of today’s opportunist hackers. When presented with a massive stone wall and a shabby stick barrier, most attackers will choose to go after the second option. Data centers must build up their defenses so effectively that they discourage attackers from even trying to launch an attack. Better cybersecurity will ensure that data centers are not only poor targets, but so imposing that hackers simply walk away.
