Attacks on Data Centres
In this blog, we will discuss about the different types of attacks on data centres.
The Significance of Data Centres
To collect, handle, maintain, and distribute enormous volumes of data, organisations use data centres, which are buildings composed of computer networks, storage systems, and computing equipment. Businesses frequently rely heavily on the applications, services, and data stored in a data centre, making it a crucial asset for ongoing operations.
Companies used to host all of their applications and data in-house, in data centres. But as cloud computing has grown in popularity, businesses have moved an increasing proportion of their IT infrastructures to cloud-based public or private environments. These cloud environments deliver the operating system as a service and benefit the company in a number of ways, including by increasing its flexibility, agility, and efficiency as well as by offering the possibility of significant cost savings.
Private and public cloud platforms are not, however, ideal choices for business data centres. Organizations have more control and insight over the infrastructure supporting their data and apps thanks to on-premises infrastructure. As a result, businesses frequently choose a hybrid data centre approach that combines on-site and cloud equipment. These hybrid data centres use orchestration to enable network-based data and application sharing between cloud-based and on-premise infrastructures. Because of this, businesses may better balance the benefits offered by on-premises and cloud-based data centres.
Why is data centre security important?
Sites need to be physically and digitally protected since data centres include sensitive or proprietary information like customer data or intellectual property. A security lapse can have expensive repercussions for both the business running the data centre and the clients whose data were stolen. The theft of 1.5 million credit card details in 2012 at Global Payments, a Visa processing operator, serves as a reminder of the dangers associated with maintaining and storing sensitive data. Due to the breakup of their partnership with Visa, Global Payments is thought to have lost around $100 million.
The security, integrity, and accessibility of the data under its management are all guaranteed by a data centre with good design. A data centre can either be a great strategic edge or a substantial liability as businesses grow more and more data-driven.
Some serious threats for data centres
One of the most crucial components of any organization’s IT infrastructure are data centres. Ultimately, a data centre’s inability to function has a big impact on how well a firm can run. The two major vulnerabilities to the accessibility and protection of data centres are attacks on the underlying infrastructure and cyber threats to the data and applications hosted on this infrastructure.
Direct Infrastructure Attacks:
Computation, storage, and network functions make up the three categories of components that make up data centres. Attacks on this infrastructure have an effect on the data centre’s availability, efficiency, and security. The use of new technologies and platforms for data centre infrastructure management (DCIM) gives facility managers more control. Data centres are nevertheless becoming quicker, more expandable, and more effective. However, this increases the possibility of cyberattacks on physical infrastructure.
Attackers who get control of DCIM systems can, for instance, control cooling mechanisms to destroy servers by causing them to overheat. They may also transmit malicious backup files or interfere with backup procedures. Attackers can disable UPS systems if their dashboards are available online.
A range of safeguards against infrastructure exploits are built into data centres. Redundancy is used for critical functions to minimise downtime and single points of failure. As a result, it is more challenging for attackers to interfere with the apps that are hosted on this network. Additionally, data centres contain support systems built to deal with natural disasters and terrorist threats that can interfere with service access. These consist of facility surveillance systems, systems for fire suppression uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and systems for climate control.
DoS (Denial of Service) Attacks:
DoS attack happens when a malicious cyber attacker prevents authorised users from accessing data systems, computers, or other network components. This kind of attack produces a lot of data in order to purposefully use up scarce resources like bandwidth, CPU time, and memory blocks.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) Attacks:
This particular type of DoS attack utilizes a significant number of hacked systems as the source or traffic for a coordinated attack. In this form of assault, the hacker employs thousands of IP addresses rather than just one. DDoS attacks are primarily directed against servers with the goal of sabotaging and deactivating crucial internet services. To provide a satisfying client experience, services must be readily available. However, DDoS attacks can directly jeopardise availability, costing a company money, clients, and reputation. The average DDoS attack size increased dramatically from 4.7 Gbps to 10 Gbps between 2011 and 2013. Also, the mean packets sent out per second during one standard DDoS attack has increased by an astounding amount. This demonstrated that the prevalence of DDoS attacks is sufficient to disable the majority of common network hardware.
Web Application Attacks:
A variety of attacks, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, etc., can be used against web applications. Enterprises’ data are vulnerable as a result of attackers’ attempts to hack programmes and steal data for financial gain. The 2015 Trustwave Global Security Research revealed that 98% of applications contain vulnerabilities or have had them in the past. Attackers are putting malicious code on susceptible web servers to transform them into DDoS attack sources. To prevent web cyberattacks, enterprises need pre-emptive protection.
SSL Blind Spot Exploitation:
It is unexpected that SSL encryption can potentially be used by intruders for network infiltration given how many programmes support it. Although firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and other threat management tools can decode SSL traffic, their failure to meet the rising requirement for SSL encryption has some security concerns for data breaches.
Authentication Attacks:
Application developers can limit access to approved users by using authentication, which is frequently used by applications to verify users. However, many consumers only complete one authentication out of convenience. And many users even have weak passwords. This makes it simple for cybercriminals to brute force passwords using password cracking software. Attackers utilize password hashes and lists of stolen credentials to gain access to other internet accounts.
Data Centre Security Solutions
The security equipment used in data centres to implement security protocols is part of the network security infrastructure. The techniques comprise host-based and network-based intrusion detection systems (IDSs), firewalls, and packet-filtering technologies like ACLs and firewalls.
ACL (Access Control List):
ACLs are specifically stated filtering methods that allow or prevent traffic on particular interfaces centred on packet header information. The Internet Edge and the intranet server farm are two places in the data centre where ACLs are employed.
Firewalls:
A firewall is an advanced filtering tool that divides LAN segments, providing each segment a distinct level of protection and creating a secure system that regulates traffic flow between segments. The Internet Edge is where firewalls are most frequently installed since there they serve as a boundary for internal networks.
IDS (Intrusion Detection System):
IDSs are real-time frameworks that can identify attackers and abnormal activity and communicate it to a surveillance system. They are set up to protect the systems from further attacks by blocking or reducing current incursions.
Conclusion
Data centre network security is significantly impacted by cyberattacks as well. To ensure data security, businesses should create defence solutions for data centres. In order to improve virtual security of corporate data centres while retaining physical security, IT teams can support businesses by providing pertinent data about how their data centre networks are functioning.
References:
https://community.fs.com/blog/data-center-network-security-threats-and-solutions.html