Availability of service , security and energy efficiency ( as part of ESG ) are the fundamental pillars to every successful data centre business .

High-profile data breaches and disruption to services are frequently reported , with each incident causing huge financial and credibility losses . Giovanni

Grosso , Managing Director at G4S Secure Solutions Services , tells us about combining physical security and cybersecurity when looking at DC security programmes on a holistic basis , the six layers of security within data centres and the benefits of a riskbased approach .

High-profile data breaches and disruption to services are frequently reported with each incident causing huge financial losses in regulatory fines , loss of sensitive IP , downtime , post-incident recovery , security improvements and perhaps most valuably of all , reputation .

What advice would you give for anyone considering security for their data centre ?

For anyone considering security , we ’ d always recommend starting with a thorough risk assessment and then looking at security on a holistic basis , combining cyber and physical security and integrating people , process and technology into a single integrated security solution .

Where should the focus be ?

In October 2021 , a global cloud communications company reported losses of between US $ 9 million and US $ 12 million due to a DDoS attack . It would be easy to focus the security programme on cybersecurity alone . However , the opportunities for attack are diverse . Threat actors will target vulnerabilities in data centres ’ ownership , geography , physical perimeter , data halls , network rooms ( or MMRs ), supply chains , staff and cybersecurity in a concerted effort to breach data centres ’ defences and acquire or tamper with sensitive information or disrupt critical services .

What are the principal threats ?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to holistic data centre security . Every data

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