4 ms·

They can address power and network redundancy in software. What they can't address is security: one of the primary reasons data centers exist.

by dhx 15y ago

marshallp 15y ago
a lot of things don't need that much security, numerical compute jobs or static file serving
- kpreid 15y ago
  The integrity of any "static file" which is a HTML or JS component of a web application is necessary to the security of that entire application. (Unfortunately.)
illumin8 15y ago
They can and already have solved the security issues by full hard disk encryption of the servers. Any attempt to open the server rack or tamper with the hardware triggers a dead man switch that powers off the servers. After losing power, the systems must have a passphrase typed in over a remote secure console before they can boot. Many Fortune 500 companies already do this with all of their laptops. By using full disk encryption, if a laptop or server goes missing, even if it had a hard drive full of SSNs, they don't have to report the data loss because the data was encrypted.
- sneak 15y ago
  The kind of nerds that would jump at the chance to install this sort of stuff (those people TFA referred to as already heating their homes with servers) are the exact same people who would jump at the chance to drill out the back plates of the cabinet to defeat the tamper switch(es), then freon your ram to steal your keys... just because it's there, tempting them. http://xkcd.com/916/ http://xkcd.com/916/ These issues have _not_ been solved. Tamper-resistant and tamper-proof are entirely different concepts.
  - illumin8 15y ago
    Right, you can still get around this with the good old "use freon to freeze the DIMMs then search RAM for the encryption key" trick. Realistically, however, you need to look at the value of the data as opposed to the cost to retrieve it. For example, if all that is stored on the servers are a bunch of MPAA movies for streaming content (Akamai CDN or similar), the cost to a hacker to retrieve the data is not greater than the value of the data itself. After all, any content on Akamai CDN can most likely be found on some other channel like Bittorrent at a much lower cost than drilling out a hardware case and using freon on the DIMMs. The sophistication needed for that type of attack is only viable if the target data is worth $millions, and I suspect that nobody will be using home furnace servers for that type of processing. The key is to make the cost of accessing the data greater than the value of the data. If the value of the data is < cost to retrieve it you have a viable business model.

They can address power and network redundancy in software. What they can't address is security: one of the primary reasons data centers exist.

by dhx 15y ago

They can address power and network redundancy in software. What they can't address is security: one of the primary reasons data centers exist.

marshallp 15y ago

a lot of things don't need that much security, numerical compute jobs or static file serving

kpreid 15y ago
The integrity of any "static file" which is a HTML or JS component of a web application is necessary to the security of that entire application. (Unfortunately.)

illumin8 15y ago

They can and already have solved the security issues by full hard disk encryption of the servers. Any attempt to open the server rack or tamper with the hardware triggers a dead man switch that powers off the servers. After losing power, the systems must have a passphrase typed in over a remote secure console before they can boot. Many Fortune 500 companies already do this with all of their laptops. By using full disk encryption, if a laptop or server goes missing, even if it had a hard drive full of SSNs, they don't have to report the data loss because the data was encrypted.

sneak 15y ago
The kind of nerds that would jump at the chance to install this sort of stuff (those people TFA referred to as already heating their homes with servers) are the exact same people who would jump at the chance to drill out the back plates of the cabinet to defeat the tamper switch(es), then freon your ram to steal your keys... just because it's there, tempting them. http://xkcd.com/916/ http://xkcd.com/916/ These issues have _not_ been solved. Tamper-resistant and tamper-proof are entirely different concepts.
- illumin8 15y ago
  Right, you can still get around this with the good old "use freon to freeze the DIMMs then search RAM for the encryption key" trick. Realistically, however, you need to look at the value of the data as opposed to the cost to retrieve it. For example, if all that is stored on the servers are a bunch of MPAA movies for streaming content (Akamai CDN or similar), the cost to a hacker to retrieve the data is not greater than the value of the data itself. After all, any content on Akamai CDN can most likely be found on some other channel like Bittorrent at a much lower cost than drilling out a hardware case and using freon on the DIMMs. The sophistication needed for that type of attack is only viable if the target data is worth $millions, and I suspect that nobody will be using home furnace servers for that type of processing. The key is to make the cost of accessing the data greater than the value of the data. If the value of the data is < cost to retrieve it you have a viable business model.