Key issues in data center security: An investigation of government audit reports

The rising volume of electronic data, the growth in cloud computing and the need for secure and affordable large-scale data storage all contribute to the increasing reliance on data centers in society. This paper provides an overview of security issues relevant to data centers. We offer an aggregation and exploratory analysis of four audit reports of government data centers operating in the United States. Using the information security common body of knowledge to categorize audit findings, we identify the key issues from the reoccurring findings in the reports, particularly in regards to operations security, data center management, physical security, and disaster planning. The security of data centers has become a paramount concern for both government and the information technology industry. Both practitioners and academics can benefit from our research results because it provides insight into the key security issues facing modern data centers. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.