Data center security is so critical in Colorado they're opting for additional military-style protection. Denver's CBS 4 reported that state's National Guard recently spent a weekend training for cyber and physical attacks on data centers. The Colorado unit was joined by Guard units from four other states. The units worked collaboratively to rectify attack programs created by students.

A stunning number of daily attack attempts
Norman Weeks is the director of  Colorado's network operations and information security and he said they receive upwards of 800,000 attack attempts on a daily basis. Weeks explained they need to be proactive.

"So we are defending those, but this exercise is making sure we are ready for not only today's fight but tomorrow's fight," Weeks told CBS.

Special Guard forces
The state's Guard units have specially trained data security experts. Major Brad Rhodes, Guard spokesman, said the special groups are often called cyber smoke jumpers and they collaborated with state employees during the drills. Rhodes said it's vital everyone is trained and prepared for the latest threats.

"The potential threats out there today are very sophisticated," Rhodes noted, adding that sometimes there are multiple threats taking place.

"It makes you go, 'Wow, mind blown! I've got to deal with all of those things at one time," he told the station.

The National Guard Association of the United States has released a publication detailing the threats to governmental and private sector data centers and the responses citizens can expect from their governmental agencies. The report quoted General Keith B. Alexander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, who outlined the Guard's role in cyber attacks and data center incursion situations around the nation.

"it is our intent to have Guard forces align regionally to help in prevention, protection and recovery operations. This will be a key inter-government partnership." The National Guard provides a cost effective and uniquely capable force that can provide capability for the DoD, homeland defense, civil support and intrastate missions. Most importantly, the National Guard is composed of citizen-soldiers, working in communities and providing knowledge of critical infrastructure at the local level.  As a whole, the defense of our cyber domain lacks clear situational awareness of local and state concerns. This is why the Guard must be involved."

Biometrics in the data center
Physical protection of the data center facility and the infrastructure and data inside is a very difficult and, at times, dangerous task. A Ponemon Institute survey showed that a majority of data center incursions come from insiders but hardening the facility against external attack is a pragmatic discipline that is sometimes neglected by well-meaning managers. Fingerprint scanning technology is an almost foolproof way of biometric access control that will keep unauthorized personnel out of the data center.

By scanning an employee's fingerprint into a template and storing it in a local data base, security teams have a non-duplicable way of authenticating the employee and determining if they are allowed access or not. By having complete access control company records, private customer information and any manner of data is secured and protected within an almost inviolable data center. With huge fines set for loss of data, companies and governments are exploring and deploying biometric technology as a data center defense in increasing numbers according to the various reports and stories.

In Colorado, said CBS 4, Rhodes and his Guard colleagues and staff are learning that both parties have to communicate to better safeguard the state and all of its data.

"Have that common lexicon and be able to talk and start the ball rolling to solve the problem," Rhodes said.

Having the National Guard as a ally in the fight against cyber-terrorism makes a big difference to someone thinking about hacking a state, municipality or the federal government said CBS 4.

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