Data Centre Magazine August 2020 | Page 60

TECHNOLOGY

60

— Jean S . Bozman , VP and principal analyst , Hurwitz & Associates

The colossal increase in data from a vastly increased number of endpoints is a huge source of threat for data centre operators . Despite total market spending of $ 13bn every year on data centre security , attacks ( and breaches ) persist . This is a tricky situation , however , as data centre operators themselves don ’ t control the vast majority of IoT devices feeding information into their systems . Often , only one of those devices needs to be compromised for the entire system to be rendered vulnerable .

“ Imagine a garage door opener with the added functionality to deactivate the home alarm upon entry . This is a convenient feature for a homeowner entering their home in a hurry . However , now the entire alarm system could potentially be deactivated when only the garage door opener is compromised ,” posits a recent report by Deloitte . “ The broad range of connectable home devices – TVs , home thermostats , door locks , home alarms , smart home hubs , garage door openers , to name a few – creates a myriad of connection points for hackers to gain entry into IoT ecosystems , access customer information , or even penetrate manufacturers ’ back-end systems .”

Traditional methods like firewalls are no longer effective on their own , as data centre networks expand closer and closer to the edge . In 2019 , there were 1,473 data breaches in the US alone , and IBM ’ s Ponemon Institute estimates that the average cost of a single breach is typically in the realm of $ 3.5mn . Unfortunately , there ’ s a common consensus that the IoT manufacturing industry is moving faster than its cyber security solutions can keep up . “ A lot of the manufacturing behind IoT devices today feels like the Gold Rush … everyone wants to get there in a hurry ,” John Cook , senior director of product management at Symantec , said at the 2018 RSA

AUGUST 2020