Page 30 - Security Today, May/June 2019
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Elevating Data Center Security
Rack-level electronic access control may thwart cybercriminals
BTy Mike Fahy
he endlessly growing mountains of personal, private data collected as part of routine transactions in our digital world continue to be a target for cybercriminals, who are moving beyond digital theft to the real world by targeting the servers that contain this data.
In 2017, the global average total cost of a data breach was $3.86 million—up six percent from the previous year. As the total cost of data breaches rise, the probability of an organization undergoing a data breach increases to a staggering 27.9 percent, with cyber- crime ranking among the top three risks in the world by the World Economic Forum. These numbers are staggering and grow costlier every day, with data security breaches impacting governments, fi- nancial corporations, credit card companies, telecoms and health- care organizations.
While firewalls, data encryption and antivirus/anti-malware tools handle the logical side of data protection and security, the physical heart of our digital world—also known as the data center—demands an exceptional level of protection, which can be achieved through a multi-layered approach to access control.
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MAY/JUNE 2019 | SECURITY TODAY
The Risks Keep Growing
As more personal information is pushed into the digital world, the risks and costs of data breaches continue to climb. According to the Breach Level Index, there were 1,765 publicly disclosed data breaches in 2017, leading to the successful theft or loss of 2.6 billion data re- cords. To net it out, that equals approximately 4,949 records stolen every minute, or 82 records every second.
Organizations found in violation of data regulations face costly consequences. This situation dramatically elevates the importance of physical protection and security for data center managers. As more businesses, governments and organizations move toward cloud-based data storage, regulatory bodies are placing a stronger emphasis on data protection, making it more important than ever for data center managers to ensure that their security administration meets industry standards.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for instance, is regarded as one the most significant data protection standards in the IT industry today. PCI DSS is designed to protect the personal data of consumers and sets access control requirements
ACCESS CONTROL
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