Google is responsible for an extraordinary amount of information. Last year was chaotic in terms of computer security, and 2015 gives no guarantee that it will be better. This forces Google to carefully watch over all its data centers, defending not only their digital integrity, but also their physical integrity, through the application of multiple layers of protection.
Do you want to know what a Google data center looks like? In May 2011 we took a close look at its facilities in Hamina, which use seawater as the main cooling element. In October 2012, the company published a spectacular gallery with high-quality images that could easily be used as wallpapers. But data centers are constantly renovated and under uninterrupted surveillance. Let’s pause here: personally, a significant part of my digital life is stored on some Google server. The draft of this text has been written on Google Docs, and Gmail is the provider of my main email account. As we well know, Google has not been free of failures in the past, and I calculate there must be hundreds of millions of users in a similar situation to mine, so the Mountain View giant needs a little more than tooth and nail to defend that data.
A Closer Look at Google's Data Center Campus
In mid-December last year, Google published a video showing Joe Kava, Vice President of Data Center Operations, touring one of the many facilities (this one in particular is in South Carolina) that the company has created to sustain and expand its online services. One of the first things Kava mentions is that of the total employees Google has in its ranks, only an extremely small percentage is authorized to enter the data center campus. Keeping this and other centers running 24x7 requires covering even the smallest need of those who work there (I’d almost say data centers are miniature cities), without of course neglecting the security aspect.
Layers of Security
The barriers become increasingly complex and demanding as you get closer to the data center, and if you pay attention, around the campus perimeter there are warnings indicating the presence of alligators (!). Predefined access lists, metal detectors, biometric locks, laser sensors, and even alligators combine perfectly with one of the most efficient custom designs we’ve seen.
When Hard Drives Fail
The video also reminds us what happens to hard drives when they fail. Every disk that cannot be verified as clean is placed in a press to destroy its internal mechanism, and then shredded. An impressive job for an impressive challenge.
