The cage is the new perimeter

Data center security was built around the perimeter. Once someone got inside, few checkpoints stood between them and the equipment. That model no longer fits. Tenants, contractors, vendors and service technicians now share the same halls, often a few steps from equipment they have no reason to touch.

In the November issue of Security Journal Americas, Rich Lyman of Acre Security and Hector Melendez of Traka explain what operators want now. In a colo, every cage is its own perimeter. Most of those cages still lock with a physical key.

Melendez argues that the keys and equipment inside a data center need the same controls as the doors. A cage key should only release to someone who badged in, holds the right role and is scheduled for that work. TrakaWEB connects that record to Acre and ties key and asset activity to entry events. Auditors get one timeline instead of three separate systems.

The two also cover the co-location question, why cyber and physical security now depend on each other, and why scale should be the first question an operator asks before buying.