The C-Suite’s Guide for Better Datacenter Security

In recent years, datacenters have transformed into the heart and soul of various industries, whereas the financial sector alone invests nearly $500 billion in datacenter infrastructure.

However, the investments also come with continuous threats and challenges—with three main challenges that have become widespread. First, the fast adoption of mobile services. Second, the move to cloud and big data. And finally, the onset of more complex cyber threats.

The challenges in providing a strong, fail-safe datacenter security increased greatly in recent years, as IT solutions company in the Philippines come up with more robust IT infrastructures and services. Companies need to adapt these requirements to ride the constant peril of cyber threats.

Here is a guide on how to build a better datacenter security for CEOs and CISOs.

A Guide for CEOs

CEOs take part in building a robust network architecture. When it comes to IT infrastructure services, CEOs have crucial roles to play that are not exclusive to the purchase decision.

Here is a short guide for CEOs when creating a more resilient datacenter security system for the company.

• If your company doesn’t have a CISO in place, then it is time to create one. The International Data Corporation (IDC) believes that the CISO should be directly reporting to the CEO, not to the CIO.
• Along with the sophistication of cyber threats, mitigation should come first before compliance, especially this 2016. Datacenter modification requires a sizable budget; thus, it is important for you to participate in security roundtables and instill a culture of security awareness across all levels within the organization. Similar to the innovation, a security awareness culture should not be limited to one department alone.
• The CEO must ensure that the CISO works with business leaders to come up with security solutions that will both benefit the operations and the datacenter.
• If your company doesn’t have a security center of excellence in place, make it one of your priorities this 2016 in terms of datacenter security. This will provide the company with measurable risk metrics in information technology and determine how effective the current decision-making system is.
• If your company also have a security center of excellence, revisit the goals you have set and measure its performance over the years. The goals should be clear and regular reports should be made, as these are vital players in business continuity management.
• The company’s risk profile and IT security are key factors to consider when making productivity purchasing decisions. In purchase decisions, ensure that the integral security features are at par with the business’ risk profile.

A Guide for CISOs

CISOs must be efficient in communicating to the team level and the C-level while continuously improving the maturity of the IT security infrastructure and its teams.

Here are some points to help CISOs modify an existing IT security infrastructure to become a more robust one.

• The CISO must set regular meetings with the legal and compliance officers, as well as the board of directors to keep everyone up-to-date with the datacenter’s health.
• Similar to a strong IT infrastructure, CISOs must have a peer relationship with datacenter security providers.
• As the business grows, CISOs must be involved in new business or technology initiatives so teams can properly conduct datacenter security assessments. This will ensure that business activities are aligned with security requirements. Otherwise, the team can modify IT infrastructure services to fit the new business or technology need.
• Customer-specific and third-party data must be analyzed. To do this, CISOs must expand, not just the teams and their capabilities, but also the partner IT ecosystems to handle this type of cyber threat.
• Incorporating an internal firewall-inclusive threat intelligence will not only create an alert system to trigger an investigation. It will also lead to a single-point-analysis and enforcement of IT policies.
• The cyber threats are becoming more and more sophisticated. This is why security intelligence operations should be a vital player in IT security risk management.

Security is the top concern for most—if not all—organizations, especially now that companies are experiencing more sophisticated forms of attack. IT solutions companies in the Philippines offer varying IT infrastructure and security services. The key is to find one that fits your business security needs.