Addressing Cyber Security Concerns of Data Center Remote Monitoring Platforms

Digital remote monitoring services provide real-time monitoring and data analytics for data center physical infrastructure systems. These modern cloud-based platforms offer the promise of reduced downtime, reduced mean time to recovery (MTTR), less operations overhead, as well as improved energy efficiency for power and cooling systems. However, with the cost of cyber security crime projected to quadruple over the next few years reaching $2 trillion by 2019, there is concern these systems could be a successful avenue of attack for cyber criminals. This paper describes key security aspects of developing and operating digital, cloud-based remote monitoring platforms that keep data private and infrastructure systems secure from attackers. This knowledge of how these platforms should be developed and deployed is helpful when evaluating the merits of remote monitoring vendors and their solutions.