Data Centre Magazine December 2024 | Page 137

CLOUD & 5G

The threat landscape for data centres remains increasingly complex and dangerous . A data hack , or ransomware attack , could leave operators , customers and investors compromised , with threat actors having complex powers to extort or breach sensitive information or withhold services .

It is no secret that these attacks continue to evolve . Hackers across the world are targeting backups and using more sophisticated tactics such as double extortion – an example of which being the Indonesian data centre hack , which threatened to extort US $ 8m as a ransom .
As a result , businesses and governments are currently working to improve this bleak outlook by giving data centres greater protections that

“ Ensuring a robust strategy that focuses on protecting data wherever it resides is a great place to start regardless of industry ”

JAIMEN HOOPES VICE PRESIDENT & PRODUCT MANAGEMENT , FORCEPOINT safeguard vital information , which could include healthcare , financial details or personal smartphone data .
In an age where data is dispersed across different endpoints , given hybrid working patterns , there is now a much greater need to prioritise data security . “ The principles for protecting your organisation are the same regardless of what sector your organisation operates in or what service it provides ,” Jaimen Hoopes , Vice President & Product Management at Forcepoint , explains . “ For data centre providers , the stakes are especially high given the breadth of sensitive data housed across industries and government agencies – and the cascading impact that a breach could create .”
We examine some of the leading security threats that data centres have to wrestle with and how businesses can better protect themselves .
Confronting unique data centre security challenges One of the most significant challenges threatening data centres today is ransomware . As this method of attack has continued to evolve , it has now become much more accessible to cybercriminals .
This method of attack operates by encrypting critical data and halting operations until a ransom sum is paid . Often , backups are impacted which makes recovery near-impossible . Such a significant incident can result in severe , or even catastrophic , losses for businesses in addition
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