DCAWD.com

Google today released a video showcasing the security and data protection practices in its data centers, which includes some interesting footage from the company’s data center in South Carolina. Most of the tour focuses on physical security and access control, including the security gates and biometric tools (iris scanners, in this case). It also showcases Google’s methodology for wiping and destroying hard disk drives when they fail or are taken out of service, including an on-site disk shredder. At about the 4 minute mark there’s the briefest of glimpses of the data center area, which shows tape libraries. This video runs about 7 minutes.

Near the end of the video there’s a reference to Google’s use of additional security measures not shown in the video – which can only be a reference to the sharks with friggin’ laser beams on their heads. Here’s a look at some of the coverage from Google’s previous disclosures about its data centers at the 2009 Data Center Efficiency Summit:

Google has released a video showing at least some of the security and data protection techniques used in its worldwide network of data centers.

The video plays like a souped-up advertisement for the search giant and its Google Apps suite of online business applications – there are more than a few visual allusions to the Tom Cruise vehicle, Mission Impossible – and Google has previously discussed its security practices in a Google Apps white paper (PDF). But the video does provide a small glimpse into the operation of the nearly 40 server facilities Google has erected over the past several years. It focuses on a Google data center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, but also gives a nod to a new facility in Hamina, Finland.

In additional to protecting the grounds with around-the-clock security personnel, cameras, and fences, Google controls access to facilities, the video says, using badges encoded with a lenticular printing mechanism designed to prevent forgeries. Some facilities also use iris scanners and other biometric devices. Once employees are inside the facility, there's a second line of badge readers and in some cases biometric devices restricting access to the actual data center floor.

Only certain Google employees are allowed inside the data center, and as Google is fond of pointing out, all data is sharded and spread across myriad machines and facilities, so if an unauthorized person did gain access to a hard drive, the data could not be read by the human eye.

Nonetheless, when a hard drive fails or no longer exhibits prime performance and must be disposed of, Google uses multiple techniques to ensure that the data can't be read at all. It overwrites the data, and then it uses a complete disk read to verify that all data has been removed. When disk reaches the end of its life, Google will then destroy it. This involves pushing a steel piston through the center of the drive and then shredding it into relatively small pieces. The remains of the drives are then sent to recycling centers.