Cybersecurity Threats to Data Centers

February 10, 2025

Cybersecurity is essential to protecting the critical data stored on your servers. As security threats increase in quantity and severity, you must do everything possible to keep your business safe.

The Data Center Security Landscape

The worldwide cost of cybercrime is currently around $9.22 trillion. In the United States specifically, cybercrime remains one of the primary threats that companies face, with 2024 projections stating that it will cost the U.S. more than $452 billion. All these numbers point to one fact — protecting your company data is more important than ever.

While the financial implications are worrying, company leaders are also concerned about the reputational damage these attacks can cause an organization. When a breach occurs and the news spreads, customers, investors and stakeholders panic. Regaining the trust of customers after a data breach can be challenging.

Top 5 Cybersecurity Threats to Data Centers

Before you can devise a plan to protect your data center, it’s essential to understand the various ways your system can get attacked. Here are some of the most frequent ways cybercriminals threaten organizations.

1. Ransomware Attack

During a ransomware attack, hackers will design malware that denies an individual or organization access to files on their computers unless they pay a ransom to the attacker. The challenge with these attacks is the financial and reputational damage they can cause to affected data centers.

Protecting your data center from such an attack involves continuously backing up data to help quickly restore your services in the event of an attack. Implementing strict access controls such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and strong passwords can also be a great way to prevent unauthorized access to critical company data.

2. Social Engineering

Social engineering is a manipulation technique that primarily relies on human error rather than technical vulnerabilities. The key to protecting your data center from such an attack is to educate every team member to follow effective strategies, such as using strong passwords, not using the same password for multiple accounts and keeping anti-malware software updated.

3. Insider Threats

Insider threats can be intentional — when a person deliberately compromises a company’s sensitive information — or unintentional — when someone causes a security breach by falling victim to a phishing scam or other related attacks. Closely monitoring employee activities, implementing strict access control and immediately blocking access to terminated employees are a few key ways to protect your data center from insider threats.

4. Third-Party Exposure

Sometimes, cybercriminals can access a company’s sensitive data by hacking a third party that the company deals with. Third-party exposure is especially challenging because many third parties can be less secure and lack the proper security measures. To protect your data, it’s best to only work with organizations with strict security and privacy policies. Implementing encryption and digital signatures can also help safeguard data centers from these threats.

5. Configuration Mistakes

With the security of data centers, even a small error in the configuration can lead to a significant vulnerability. These configuration issues enable cybercriminals to access sensitive company data and exploit it.

Protecting your data center from configuration mistakes involves employing a skilled team and always maintaining and updating your hardware and software.

Tips for Staying Protected From Cybersecurity Threats

Digital security means taking every possible step to secure your cyber solutions. Preventative measures are the best practice for keeping these threats at bay. Here are our tips for cybersecurity protection.

1. Locate and Fix Your Weak Points

Analyze your current cybersecurity plan to identify places where your business can increase security measures. If you don’t have a cybersecurity plan, now is the time to create and implement one. It is worth the time and resources it takes if it will protect you from a major security breach later on. Take steps to make your digital security as strong as it can be by:

Identifying the information that needs protection
Identifying the threats that want access to this information
Recognizing the damage that would happen to your company following a security breach
Creating a plan that will protect this information and shut down security threats

2. Choose a Secure Data Center

When choosing a data center for your business, consider their security. Ask about their cybersecurity protection and the measures they are taking to increase this protection. You may also ask about how they keep their server rooms secure, such as cameras at the doors or fingerprint or card readers required for entry.

3. Use Methods for Password Protection

Basic passwords for your business accounts won’t cut it for digital security. Make them as complicated as possible by combining capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Every password for every account needs to be unique, and you should not share these passwords with anyone. For even more protection, consider adding two-factor authentication, which sends you a code through text or email to finish the login process.

4. Install Software and Hardware Updates

Outdated software and hardware may leave holes in your security that hackers can access easily. Check for updates regularly and install them as soon as possible. If it’s impossible to install security updates on your devices due to age, consider replacing your equipment with models that have the latest protection.

5. Educate Your Employees on Secure Cyber Solutions

Your IT team is at the heart of your cybersecurity protection, so equip them with the necessary tools. Teach them about security now, and keep the learning with regular seminars about the latest protection methods.

Enhance Your Digital Security With DataSpan

You want to protect your business, and DataSpan wants to help you. We provide consultations on business security and will work with you to improve your security solutions.