Why Data Center Physical Security Is More Critical Than Ever

In today's digital economy, data centers are the backbone of global business, commerce and communication.

As digital infrastructure grows in complexity and criticality, so do the threats against it. While many organizations prioritize cybersecurity, data center physical security is an often overlooked but essential pillar of defense.

IBM's latest Cost of a Data Breach report found the average cost of a data breach had escalated to $4.88 million in 2024, a 10% increase from the previous year. While the report focuses primarily on cyber threats like phishing and insider attacks, they are often exacerbated by physical vulnerabilities such as unauthorized access. Investing in physical security measures can significantly reduce the overall impact of a breach and support regulatory compliance, operational continuity and business resilience.

The data center physical security market is responding to these challenges, with projections indicating growth from $2.1 billion in 2023 to over $3.6 billion by 2029.

Investing in comprehensive physical security measures is no longer optional; it's an imperative step in fortifying the resilience and reliability of data center infrastructures in an increasingly complex threat landscape.

Why A Secure Data Center Is Essential

Data centers house the core digital infrastructure and sensitive information that businesses and people rely on every day, including financial data, personal information, and confidential corporate and government secrets. This makes them attractive targets for cybercriminals looking for valuable data, burglars after valuable equipment, and ideologically motivated extremists.

When a data center is involved, any breach or disruption—regardless of motivation or intent—can be catastrophic. Several years ago, one of the 32 data centers operated by cloud services firm OVHcloud caught fire. At that time, OVHcloud was Europe’s largest cloud services provider. The destruction of that single data center knocked out more than 3.6 million websites: banks, news sites, communications systems, and web portals run by government agencies in France, Britain, Poland, and elsewhere—including the UK’s Vehicle Licensing Agency and the European Space Agency. This disaster cost OVHcloud hundreds of millions of dollars. Ultimately, this was attributed to an accident that could have been prevented with stronger building safety measures.

Corporate offices, personnel, and infrastructure are also increasingly finding themselves targeted for ideological reasons. For example, a Texas man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a foiled attempt to secure explosives he intended to use to bomb an Amazon Web Services data center. He believed a successful attack would “kill off about 70% of the internet” and spark massive civil unrest and anti-government violence. He was ultimately arrested after attempting to purchase explosives to use during his planned attack.

Five Common Hazards for Data Centers

Not so long ago, data centers could pretty comfortably rely on “security through obscurity." They were housed in nondescript buildings at the outskirts of sleepy towns where power was cheap and the weather was mild. Few people worked in these buildings, even fewer noticed them, and most hazards could be mitigated by regular maintenance and a good uninterruptible power supply. 

Today people are more aware than ever of data centers. In many communities data centers are becoming contentious. Add to that economically motivated criminals, attracted by the value of data or the value of the equipment itself, and every data center begins to feel like it has a target painted on it.

When it comes to their physical security, data centers have five primary hazards to worry about:

• Environmental hazards, including fires and extreme weather.
• Unauthorized Access/Intrusion on the premises. This includes both people sneaking or breaking in, as well as insider threats where someone with legitimate reason to be on the premises abuses that access. 
• Theft of hardware, ranging from stealing backup drives to access information to stealing servers, telecom equipment, and even copper for resale. 
• Vandalism and sabotage. As mentioned above, infrastructure—including data centers—are increasingly becoming the target of extremist fantasies and public ire.  
• Targeted attacks and workplace violence are concerns anywhere that people are employed, and become amplified when a business becomes a political lightning rod. 

At a glance, this seems like a wild range of hazards: some are natural disasters, others are outside attackers getting in, others could be once-trusted employees taking a nasty turn. 

But a well thought-out and well-designed physical security system can help mitigate all of these threats, keeping valuable data—and even more valuable lives—safe.

What is Physical Security in Data Centers?

Data center physical security refers to the layers of protection that safeguard physical access to data center facilities, infrastructure, and equipment. While cybersecurity protects digital assets, physical security ensures that critical hardware—like servers, storage systems, and network switches—is protected from threats such as intrusion, theft, sabotage, and environmental hazards. These measures deter, detect, delay and deny access to unauthorized individuals, reducing exposure to physical threats like forced entry, vandalism and theft as well as environmental disasters.

The most secure data centers use a systems approach with components that include:

• Access control systems, such as badges or biometric scanners
• Perimeter security, including fencing and barriers
• Surveillance systems, including video surveillance
• Environmental controls, including fire alarm and suppression systems, power distribution units and uninterruptible power sources
• Barriers to prevent forced entry, such as exterior doors and windows tested to meet ASTM 3561 standards

Important Safety Standards for Data Centers

Auditors use a wide range of standards to assess a data center’s physical security. These include:

The Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification

This is considered the premier standard for data centers. But this primarily focuses on the resilience, redundancy, and maintenance of data infrastructure. Although physical security is addressed broadly, it isn’t a core differentiator between the basic Tier levels.

ISO 27001:2022

This latest version delves deeper into physical security. It includes a list of fourteen physical controls, which can be organized into three categories: Deterrent Controls, Detective Controls, and Preventative Controls. While physical security systems fit into deterrent and preventive categories, they also play a role in detection: most modern data center security solutions should integrate heavy-duty forced-entry/ballistically rated door systems with access control and logging.

NIST SP 800-53

A standard originally intended for U.S. federal agencies, this includes robust physical security measures to prevent breaches and unauthorized access to data center infrastructure. 

Overall, there’s a growing appreciation for the interplay between physical security and data security. For example, an American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 (“Trust Services Criteria”) audit focuses on physical security. But physical security also comes into play during a SOC 1 (“Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICFR)”) audit. AICPA recognizes that the best cybersecurity in the world is useless if someone can smooth-talk their way into your building, access a computer, and plug into a USB port.

Similarly, while best known for stringency about data and information digital storage, both HIPAA rules and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) have physical safeguard and access control expectations in their data center security standards. These apply even if only a handful of the thousands of customers using that data center are involved in payment processing or healthcare. 

How Total Security Solutions Helps Protect Data Centers

At Total Security Solutions, we’ve always aimed to exceed expectations, not just meet minimum compliance standards. We have decades of experience creating physical security solutions, working consultatively with every client. This helps ensure that the solution we engineer, fabricate, and install provides the protection you need in an emergency. Our goal is to support your broader emergency response and business continuity plans without obstructing your day-to-day business practices. 

For data centers, this usually means creating physical security solutions that bring together bullet-resistant elements with forced-entry and fire-rated components, integrated with your access control and monitoring systems. We’ve developed a new range of heavy-duty fire-rated bullet-resistant (FRBR) doors and forced-entry bullet-resistant (FEBR) doors specifically to meet the needs of high-demand customers like data centers.

These blend Safety + Aesthetics™ while meeting extremely high performance expectations under the most intense conditions. 

Best Practices for Data Center Physical Security

Data center protection is rapidly changing. Nonetheless, whether you’re building a new data center or retrofitting an existing one to be more secure, your best practices remain the same:

1. Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment that takes into account both the current risk profile and trends that may impact your security.
2. Create concentric layers of security (perimeter, reception, restricted zones, server rooms, etc.) that integrate robust barriers at critical access points (gates, entryways, service areas, and so on).
3. Pair physical protections with access control systems (badges, biometrics, etc.) for layered defense.
4. Train staff on physical security protocols like visitor management and emergency response.
5. Regularly audit and update security measures to meet evolving threats.

An interconnected world offers enormous possibilities—you can connect with new people, customers, and opportunities anywhere in the world at any time. But just as your opportunities have multiplied, so have potential vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity is obviously critical to a future-proof defense, but without physical security measures, your data centers remain vulnerable. Total Security Solutions offers proven, tailored, standards-compliant protection that stands the test of time.

Ready to protect your critical infrastructure? Contact Total Security Solutions today for a free consultation on securing your data center.