Are your it closets secure? The consequences of not securing your network with physical security can be costly…

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Your IT closets contain critical infrastructure your organization needs for daily operations and workflow. Having your network interrupted could be detrimental for your employees, customers, and day-to-day business practices. When it comes to your IT closet – you should implement the highest security measures possible to prevent criminals from gaining access to your organization from the inside.

  • Sensitive Information Might Get stolen
    • After a break in, a criminal can easily gain access to sensitive company and employee information. Think of all the information you gather from your employees throughout their tenure. You may have sensitive health information for insurance purposes or even access to their finances for payroll deposits or expenses. If this information is not properly encrypted and protected, it can cause employees a lot of turmoil if stolen.
    • This is precisely what happened to Coca Cola in 2014 when equipment was stolen from their largest bottling plant. Personal health, financial, and vehicle information of over 74,000 employees were stored on some of the stolen devices. The employees are still affected today. Many of them had their identities stolen and are still attempting to build their credit scores back up and get their finances in order.
  • Loss of Revenue
    • Besides the fees that could come along with any legal action associated with a data breach or burglary, your company needs to replace anything that was stolen. This could cost you tens of thousands of dollars depending on what was taken.
  • Damage to Reputation
    • Not securing your IT closets puts your customers at risk as well. If their information is compromised because you failed to protect it – they are sure to lose confidence in you as a business partner. The same goes for your investors.
    • In fact, Target is still picking up the pieces when it comes to their reputation. After their 2013 security breach, Target saw their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) score, which is an enterprise measurement combining workplace, governance, and citizenship metrics, fall dramatically. According to Market Watch, it was the largest CSR drop among any retail company in the United States.
  • Workplace Culture
    • Similar to both customers and partners, your employees could also lose trust in your company. You may see a shift in company culture after a theft or data breach and employees may start looking to work for more secure organizations.
  • Delayed Business Operations
    • Depending on what was taken, your day-to-day operations could potentially come to a complete stop for several hours or days after a physical security breach. What if your file-sharing sever was taken or compromised? Your entire company shared drive would be gone. All sales documents, invoices, HR files – everything would be lost. Or, what if they took the sever that controlled your phone and internet? Your office would definitely be out of sync for a number of days. Imagine what would happen if someone took your entire server rack…

 

Not sure if your IT closets are up to par? Follow these security best practices to prevent a physical security breach.

  1. Make sure you are keeping your IT equipment in a locked separate room. Having these devices in a person’s office or even in a shared storage space leaves your system vulnerable to damage or theft.
    1. If you can’t keep your equipment in a separate room, you should try to organize the equipment into separate locked sections.
  2. Allow only authorized personnel access to your IDF/ MDF and server rooms. You can even limit access to specific racks for added security!
  3. Utilize an access control system to properly secure your server room. This system will also be able to document all employees who enter your server room, which can prove to be extremely beneficial if anything should happen to your operating system or if you feel that an employee is tampering with your equipment.
  4. Place cameras in and around these secured rooms. As mentioned before, documentation is key if your system goes down unexpectedly. You can even opt to use motion-activated cameras that can trigger an alarm should anyone enter the sever room after hours.
  5. Install temperature and moisture monitoring devices that will notify authorized users if anything malfunctions or seems out of the ordinary. The security experts at Access Security suggest keeping the temperature of your server room between 65 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature should never exceed 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
  6. Servers create a lot of heat. Make sure to have your security partner install fire alarms within your server room to protect equipment and data.

The security experts at Access Security Corporation can help your organization effectively implement any of these best practices. Contact your sales representative today or email sales@accesssecurity.com to start the discussion.