Cyber criminals are an ever-expanding, constantly evolving group. For each solution that arises, every firewall erected, every encryption enabled, there are hackers working just as hard and fast to break them down. Data security has developed into a major industry with some the nation’s best and brightest working to stay ahead of the threats. Now, there are fewer and fewer safe havens for companies that seek them.

But all is not lost – there is still a viable solution for organizations that need a data stronghold to protect their own valuable information and that of their clients. The answer is biometric security. Data centers with this technology installed have the best chance of keeping information safe from prying eyes. That’s because biometric technology relies upon individuals’ physical characteristics as means of clearance. Without the right fingerprint identification, an employee – or potential data thief – will be denied access to that particular entry point. Data centers can lean on biometrics for access control from the front door to the server cabinet.

As threats evolve, so must security measures
The next year is shaping up to be even more challenging than 2014 was in terms of data protection, according to the security experts at Unisys, Help Net Security reported. With increased applications for mobile devices, the Internet of Things and Bring Your Own Device, there will be more opportunities for hackers to infiltrate in the lives of individuals and the operations of companies.

“As devices and items such as cars and home appliances are connected to the Internet, they present more opportunities for the bad guys to get to consumers’ private data and even into their homes,” Dave Frymier, VP and CISO at Unisys, said in its report. “For better or worse, the cyber world is changing faster than the security models used by most organizations, and that will continue to leave us vulnerable to cybercriminals.”

Unisys predicted that biometric readers on devices will become more powerful and widespread. The same could hold true for data centers. Essentially, the attitude is now that if something can be hacked, it will be hacked – biometric technology are one of the only insurances against that.

Data loss skyrockets
A new global data protection study from EMC and Vanson Bourne indicated that companies’ data loss is up 400 percent over the past two years, reported Misco. That percentage is the equivalent of 24 million emails per company. In monetary terms, the data and downtime cost organizations $1.7 trillion in the last 12 months. In that same time period, downtime alone reached 25 hours for the average business.

Of the IT departments involved in the survey, 71 percent are not confident in their ability to recover lost data, while 51 percent have no recovery plan in place for emerging areas like big data, hybrid cloud and mobile. Overall, 87 percent of companies are lagging in terms of data protection.

Companies must “pause and re-evaluate whether their current data protection solutions are in alignment with today’s business requirements, as well as their long-term goals,” Guy Churchward, president of EMC Core Technologies, stated in the study.

It isn’t easy to support a fully-capable IT security framework. Small companies may not have the resources necessary to fund such a program and as the threat adapts, it can seem hopeless. That’s why companies should turn to data centers outfitted with biometric security as their best bet for protection against data loss. These centers can serve as the lockbox of the digital age – they protect data from hackers, untrustworthy employees and neglectful staff.