SPEAKER: Google builds and maintains
one of the world's foremost networks of data centers.
Their design and engineering approaches
have created a large and highly scalable data center network.
Over the next few minutes, we're going
to get an exclusive inside look at how Google works
to secure and protect the data that is stored in their data
centers.
The security and protections that are shown in this video
are in place at the time this video was made.
Google is always innovating new ways to secure and protect
its customers' data.
Our tour will focus on three main areas, one,
the physical security of the data center,
two, protection of the data in the data center,
and, three, reliability of operations in the data center.
Inside of a Google data center, there
are thousands upon thousands of machines carrying out
the business of Google and its customers.
Whether it's a search on Google.com
or an e-commerce transaction through Google Checkout,
or working with business data in Google Apps,
they're all served through these machines.
The machines are custom built by Google
to their own specifications.
Google builds thousands of servers every year,
but all of them are built exclusively
to run in these data centers.
They're not sold or distributed externally.
The machines run a specialized, stripped down
version of the Linux operating system, again,
to Google's own specification.
Only the necessary operating system services and hardware
are installed.
This helps provide a computing environment that
is much less prone to vulnerabilities
and it also reduces the need for Google Apps customers
to deploy their own patches.
Access to Google data centers is tightly controlled.
It's in Google's policy not to allow public tours or site
visits, and even Google employee access is restricted.
Cars and trucks cannot gain access to the facility grounds
until they've been verified and allowed to enter the facility.
All vehicle access to the data center
is controlled by a restricted barrier.
Security fencing around the perimeter
helps ensure that all authorized access
occurs through this checkpoint.
Security personnel are on duty 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, and can monitor vehicle access
through this guard station.
Google data centers are watched by a comprehensive set
of video monitoring cameras.
And we can see several of them as we drive into the facility.
Once granted access to the facility,
authorized personnel must check in at a reception area,
such as the one shown here.
Access throughout the facility is
controlled by badges that use a special lenticular printing
mechanism that makes it especially difficult to copy
or forge.
Access logs are automatically scanned
to make sure that anyone who entered an area also left it.
Some of Google's data centers utilize
biometric devices, such as iris cameras, to verify identity.
And security personnel also check
a roster of authorized people permitted access.
Although we're inside the facility,
we're still not yet on the data center floor.
This part of the facility is basically a traditional Google
office.
The business required to run the data center
is mostly conducted here.
Access to the actual data center floor
is restricted by badges, and in some data centers,
biometric methods.
In this example, an iris camera is being used.
One of the most important elements
of the machines that Google builds
are the hard drives, especially for Google Apps customers,
as this is where we store their business data.
Google takes great measures to protect its customers' data.
And security and protection of that data is paramount.
Google's customer data is stored in multiple locations
to help ensure reliability.
The files that store the data are given random file names
and are not stored in clear text.
So they're not humanly readable.
For each drive that is received in one of our data centers,
Google rigorously tracks its location and status.
When a hard drive fails or begins
to exhibit performance problems, it's
brought to this area, where it's reformatted and retested.
If the hard drive does not pass these tests,
it's removed from the rotation.
The data on the hard drive is then
overwritten to help ensure that no customer data remains on it.
The data override is then verified
with a complete disk read.
This process helps ensure that there's
no trace of customer data remaining on the hard drive.
For hard drives that have reach the end of their life,
Google has a destruction process that
is designed to further ensure that none
of the data on that drive can ever be accessed.
The drives are destroyed in a multi-step process.
One device that is used to destroy old hard drives
is known as the crusher and is shown here.
A steel piston is pushed through the center of the drive
and the platters are deformed, making them unreadable.
Another step in the process is the drive shredder, shown here.
As you can see, no one will be likely to get
any of Google's customers' data from these drives.
After the crushing process, the remains
are sent to recycling centers.
Google maintains an extra backup of the data in the data center
that is stored on these tapes, shown here.
This provides a level of redundancy
to help safeguard its customers' data.
Google data centers are protected
by robust fire detection and suppression capabilities.
This panel shows the current state
of fire detection in the data center.
Everything is clear now.
In the event of a fire or any other disruption,
data access for Google's customers
is designed to automatically and seamlessly shift
to another data center, so that they can keep working
and their business can continue uninterrupted.
The Google data center is constantly
monitored by personnel using sophisticated video equipment.
This monitoring station allows the security team to view video
feeds from many areas in the data center.
In addition to the manual monitoring of the video feeds,
Google utilizes video analytics that
are designed to automatically detect anomalies in the video
and alert security staff to investigate further.
Some Google data centers are also
equipped with sophisticated thermal imaging cameras that
can identify potential intruders at the perimeter
or within the grounds of the facility using heat signatures.
This allows the security staff to effectively monitor
the perimeter and grounds during the day and night
as well as in difficult visibility conditions.
If the security team spots something out
of the ordinary on the video surveillance,
they are trained to immediately respond and investigate.
Mobility and rapid response in the data center
are enabled by the use of carts, Jeeps, and scooters.
Google maintains relationships with local law enforcement.
And should the need arise, they can be called on-site.
Google data centers are equipped with emergency backup
generators that are capable of powering the data center
operation in the event of a power failure.
Google data centers are connected
to the internet via high-speed fiber optic cable.
In each center, there are multiple redundant connections
to protect against the possibility of a failure
from a single connection.
In addition to operating data centers designed for security
and data protection, Google data centers
are designed for sustainability and energy efficiency.
This is central to Google's commitment
to being a carbon-neutral company.
In 2009, Google announced that its data centers currently met
energy efficiency levels that the US Environmental Protection
Agency projected only the most state of the art data centers
would possibly meet by the year 2011.
It's been many years since Google built its first data
center.
And along the way, they've evolved into sophisticated data
center designers.
As you've seen in this video, Google
works to secure and protect its customers'
data with numerous safeguards.
Some of the ones we've highlighted in this video
include physical barriers and perimeter fencing,
24/7 security presence, access control
with badging and biometric identification,
local law enforcement response, video monitoring and video
analytics, data protection, file fragmentation, replication,
and storage, hard drive lifecycle management,
and fire detection and suppression.
Furthermore, Google also employs additional safeguards
to protect its users' data that we do not disclose publicly.
These capabilities demonstrate that Google
is building and maintaining a data center network that
is designed for security.
Google's customers benefit from these technologies
and processes, and they help ensure their data is
kept secure and protected.