Computer Co-location Facility Vulnerabilities

A possible scenario of how terrorists could smuggle and detonate explosives. I’ve been yelling at people about this for years. I’ve spent a significant portion of the past ten years of my professional career working for and with corporations with large co-location facilities. Co-location facilities provide a cost effective data center solution for many companies, both small and large, enabling remote hosting of equipment in a climate controlled environment usually with several redundant high-speed connections to the Internet. These facilities are responsible for a significant percentage of electronic business performed in the United States and other countries. In having the privilege of working with a number of these facilities, I’ve also had the opportunity to witness the vulnerabilities that could give themselves over to terrorist activities. Prior to September 11 2001 , I was able to dismiss these fears with the thought that nobody would ever want to blow up the city block”. Unfortunately today these vulnerabilities are both a valid and justifiable concern. Many co-location facilities are strategically placed in areas where a significant amount of business is occurring, major peering points, large corporate concentrations, and many general terrorist targets. Some facilities are within immediate proximity to targets such as the New York Stock Exchange, the CNN building, and the public and private networks that are responsible for the Internet as well as military and public service networks. Full Story