Compute security What is compute security?
Compute security is the protection needed to combat the threat of cyberattacks for the entire lifespan of your servers—from supply chain manufacturing to decommissioning.
- What is compute security?
- How does compute security work?
- Why is compute security critical to enterprises?
- How is compute security automated?
- What is the importance of compute security?
- What are the impacts of security breaches on compute infrastructure?
- What are the fundamentals of compute security?
- What are the threats and risks in compute security?
- What are best practices of compute security?
- What are the key compute security technologies and tools?
- What are the key components of cloud compute security?
- What are the essential practices in compute security monitoring and incident response?
- What are the compliance and regulatory considerations in compute security?
- How does industry-standard interoperability management ensure seamless integration in compute security?
- Compute security retirement, decommissioning, and repurposing
- How do HPE's compute security solutions enhance protection for enterprises?
What is compute security?
Compute security protects server systems from potential cyberattacks throughout their lifecycle. Ensure safe manufacturing procedures across the supply chain, deployment, operation, and decommissioning. Compute security protects hardware, firmware, and software to maintain server integrity, confidentiality, and availability. Compute security helps firms retain trust, limit risks, and comply with industry standards and laws by addressing vulnerabilities at every level.
How does compute security work?
Compute security works in three layers. It begins with a trusted supply chain, which provides organizations with an initial layer of security even before the compute infrastructure is delivered either on premises or across a hybrid cloud environment. This ensures protection even before the hardware is plugged in at the end location.
The second layer of protection is automation; A successful defense of your infrastructure relies heavily on automated security. With malicious code and malware constantly threatening your infrastructure, you need early detection support to help control the amount of recovery time and capital required to restore safety and health within your organization.
The third layer of compute security is the repurposing or decommissioning of technology at the end of its lifecycle. The process of removing passwords, configurations, and data is critical before your infrastructure can be effectively retired. Relying on compute security during this process helps to guarantee security within the updated infrastructure that you deploy.
Why is compute security critical to enterprises?
With an ever-expanding threat to your data, assets, and resources, securing your organization’s compute infrastructure and networking has never been more critical. Cyber-attacks involve stealing intellectual property or devices, disrupting services, creating and distributing viruses and ransomware, and the implementation of malicious code.
The cost of identifying and preventing attacks, along with recovery efforts required during or after attacks, has surged exponentially due to the attacks’ sophistication. It is critical that your data center has effective security to provide support before, during, and after cyber-attacks.
In order to enable security with performance at scale, enterprises need support within every layer of their data infrastructure from edge to cloud. This means isolated security architecture, including a firewall, that functions completely independently of the server.
Isolation from the server provides significantly better security within your data center. With most extensive cyber-attacks originating as an infiltration of the firewall, enterprises need a security platform that can further mitigate attackers from accessing the firewall. When this is enabled, it is considered a true, zero-trust security architecture.
How is compute security automated?
Technological developments have enabled the automation of compute security. Without automation capabilities, security would not be able to combat today’s sophisticated cyber-attacks. Compute security automation occurs through:
Monitoring and detection:
It is absolutely critical to maintain visibility of every facet of your IT infrastructure, yet impossible to have an IT manager oversee everything. Automation is a necessary element in the monitoring and detection of unusual activities and threats to your IT environment.
Remediation:
In order to respond to attacks quickly, you need security elements that concurrently function across the entirety of your data environment. The faster your systems can be verified as stable and protected, the sooner you can resume business. With the proper security tools, remediation can be applied in impacted areas quickly and efficiently. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can be implemented within your security to help with remediation efforts, providing the ability to analyze the attacker and form of attack in order to prevent future attacks.
Continuity:
To promote the longevity of your data, assets, and systems, you must enable automation. When automation is incorporated into your security infrastructure, the disruptions for your customers are mitigated. And with compute security automation, your servers are more thoroughly protected by ensured redundancy, effectively preventing a crash among all of your critical servers in the middle of an attack.
What is the importance of compute security?
Compute security is incredibly important in our modern world where computers and networks are deeply intertwined with our daily lives. It is essential for the following reasons:
- Data protection: Compute security safeguards the privacy, availability, and integrity of sensitive data. A breach in compute security can result in data theft, financial losses, and legal ramifications.
- Privacy preservation: Compute security maintains people's privacy by preventing unwanted access to their private data.
- Business continuity: Compute security helps to ensure that activities will continue unhindered. Downtime caused by security incidents, like cyber-attacks or system intrusions, can result in large financial losses, interrupt services, and loss of consumer trust. Organizations can reduce the risk of disruptions and ensure continuity by putting in place proper security measures.
- Protection of intellectual property: Trade secrets, patents, copyrights, and proprietary algorithms are just a few examples of important intellectual property (IP) assets that are protected by compute security. IP theft or unauthorized access can have serious repercussions, including financial loss, diminished competitive advantage, and constrained innovation.
- Compliance and legal standards: Compute security is essential for maintaining compliance with laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the healthcare industry and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union.
- Reputation and trust: Businesses that give compute security a high priority show that they are dedicated to safeguarding consumer data and upholding stakeholder confidence.
- Cyber threat landscape: Compute security solutions, such as firewalls, encryption, and secure authentication methods, help protect against a variety of cyber and malware threats, such as phishing attacks, ransomware, and data breaches.
What are the impacts of security breaches on compute infrastructure?
- Security breaches can lead to data loss or theft, exposing sensitive information and resulting in financial losses, legal liabilities, and reputational damage.
- Operations can be disrupted, causing downtime, decreased productivity, missed deadlines, and dissatisfied customers.
- Financial implications include costs for incident response, investigation, data recovery, legal actions, regulatory fines, and long-term financial repercussions.
- Reputational damage occurs as customers, partners, and stakeholders lose trust, leading to customer churn, difficulties in acquiring new customers, and damage to business relationships.
- Legal and compliance consequences may result in fines, legal actions, and lawsuits due to non-compliance with data protection and privacy regulations.
- Operational disruptions and recovery costs involve allocating significant resources for investigation, containment, system restoration, and strengthening security measures.
- Security breaches erode customer trust, leading to a loss of business and potential reputational harm, emphasizing the importance of transparent communication, proactive measures, and visible security improvements.
What are the fundamentals of compute security?
Compute security fundamentals encompass a set of principles aimed at ensuring the protection of computer systems and networks. It involves understanding and implementing various security measures to safeguard, preserve, and maintain data
- Principles of secure computing:
- Least privilege: Users should have only the necessary permissions to perform their tasks, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or misuse.
- Defense-in-depth: Multiple layers of security controls are implemented to create a robust and comprehensive defense strategy.
- Secure configuration: Systems and software are configured securely, following best practices and minimizing vulnerabilities.
- Patch management: Regularly applying security patches and updates helps address known vulnerabilities and strengthen system security.
- Strong authentication: Implementing robust authentication mechanisms, such as passwords, multi-factor authentication, or biometrics, ensures that only authorized individuals can access the system.
- Security awareness: Promoting education and training on security best practices among users to create a security-conscious culture.
- Confidentiality, integrity, and availability (cia) triad:
- Confidentiality: Protecting sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure or access. This involves encryption, access controls, and data classification.
- Integrity: Ensuring the accuracy and reliability of data by preventing unauthorized modification. Techniques like checksums, digital signatures, and access controls are vital in maintaining integrity.
- Availability: Ensuring that systems and data are accessible when needed. This involves redundancy, fault tolerance, disaster recovery planning, and proactive monitoring.
- Defense-in-depth approach to compute security:
- The defense-in-depth strategy involves implementing multiple layers of security controls across the entire infrastructure. These layers include network firewalls, intrusion detection systems, access controls, encryption, antivirus software, and employee training.
- Each layer serves as an additional barrier, and even if one layer is breached, others can provide protection, minimizing the potential impact of a security incident.
- The defense-in-depth approach recognizes that no single security measure is foolproof, and a combination of preventive, detective, and corrective controls is necessary for comprehensive protection.
What are the threats and risks in compute security?
Compute security threats and risks refer to potential dangers and vulnerabilities that can compromise the security of computer systems and networks. They include:
- Malware and ransomware attacks: These attacks involve the infiltration of malicious software or ransomware into computer systems, potentially causing data loss, system disruption, and financial harm.
- Network-based attacks (e.g., DDoS): Network-based attacks, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), overwhelm network resources, rendering them inaccessible to legitimate users and causing service disruptions.
- Insider threats and unauthorized access: Insider threats arise from individuals within an organization who misuse their authorized access, either intentionally or unintentionally, leading to data breaches, unauthorized access to systems, and potential harm to the organization.
- Data breaches and leakage: Data breaches occur when sensitive information is accessed or disclosed without authorization, leading to financial loss, regulatory non-compliance, and potential legal consequences.
By adhering to the principles of secure computing, focusing on the CIA triad, and adopting a defense-in-depth approach, organizations can establish a solid foundation for compute security.
What are best practices of compute security?
Compute security best practices involve implementing a range of measures to enhance the security of computer systems and networks. Some key practices include:
- Strong authentication and access control: Enforcing robust authentication mechanisms like passwords, multi-factor authentication, and access control policies to ensure that only authorized individuals can access sensitive resources and systems.
- Security patching and updates on a regular basis: keeping systems up to date with the most recent security patches and software upgrades to defend against possible exploitation.
- Secure configurations and hardening: Applying secure configurations to systems and devices, following industry best practices and vendor recommendations, to minimize vulnerabilities and strengthen the overall security posture.
- Secure configurations and hardening: Applying secure configurations to systems and devices, following industry best practices and vendor recommendations, to minimize vulnerabilities and strengthen the overall security posture.
- Encryption and data protection: Implementing encryption technologies to safeguard sensitive data both at rest and in transit. This includes encrypting files, databases, communication channels, and ensuring proper key management.
Other compute security best practices include:
- Network segmentation to limit the impact of potential breaches
- Implementing intrusion detection and prevention systems
- Conducting regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
- Monitoring and logging system activities for detection and response to security incidents
- Regularly backing up data and testing data recovery processes
- Promoting security awareness and providing training to employees on security best practices and potential threats
By adopting these best practices, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches, protect sensitive data, and enhance the overall security of their compute infrastructure.
What are the key compute security technologies and tools?
Compute Security Technologies and Tools encompass a range of solutions designed to strengthen the security of computer systems and networks. Here are some key technologies and tools:
- Firewalls and network security appliances: Firewalls serve as the first line of defense by monitoring and controlling incoming and outgoing network traffic. Network security appliances, such as Unified Threat Management (UTM) devices, provide additional security features like intrusion prevention, VPN support, and content filtering.
- Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS): IDS/IPS tools detect and prevent unauthorized access, malicious activities, and network-based attacks. They analyze network traffic, detect anomalies, and alert administrators to potential security breaches or take automated actions to block suspicious activities.
- Anti-malware and endpoint protection solutions: Anti-malware software and endpoint protection solutions protect individual devices from malware, viruses, and other malicious software. They include features like real-time scanning, threat detection, and removal to safeguard endpoints such as desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.
- Security information and event management (SIEM) systems: SIEM systems aggregate and analyze security event logs from various sources within the network infrastructure. They provide real-time monitoring, correlation, and analysis of security events to identify potential threats, generate alerts, and facilitate incident response and forensic investigations.
Other compute security technologies and tools include:
- Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for secure remote access
- Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions to prevent sensitive data leakage
- Encryption technologies for data protection
- Vulnerability scanning and management tools to identify and patch security issues
- Security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platforms for streamlined incident response and management
What are the key components of cloud compute security?
Cloud compute security encompasses various practices and measures to safeguard data, applications, and infrastructure in cloud computing environments. It includes the following key components:
- Security considerations in cloud environments: Addressing unique challenges such as data privacy, compliance, network security, and secure configuration of cloud resources.
- Shared responsibility model for cloud security: Defining the division of security responsibilities between the cloud service provider (CSP) and the customer, where the CSP secures the underlying infrastructure while customers secure their applications, data, and user access.
- Identity and access management (IAM) in the cloud: Managing user identities, access controls, and permissions within the cloud environment, employing practices like strong authentication and least privilege.
- Cloud-specific security tools and services: Leveraging security offerings provided by cloud providers, including data encryption, web application firewalls (WAF), intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and monitoring and logging services.
Other aspects of Cloud compute security include data protection, secure network configuration, disaster recovery planning, continuous monitoring, incident response, and forensic capabilities.
By utilizing these compute security technologies and tools, organizations can enhance their ability to detect, prevent, and respond to security threats, thereby strengthening the overall security posture of their computing infrastructure.
Container compute security focuses on securing containerized applications and environments through various practices and measures. Here are the key components:
- Container security risks and challenges: Inadequate isolation, vulnerabilities in container images, unauthorized access, and runtime threats.
- Container image security and vulnerability scanning: Scanning container images for vulnerabilities and regularly updating them.
- Container runtime security and isolation: Utilizing security features like namespace isolation, resource limits, secure configurations, and access controls.
- Secure container orchestration platforms and management tools for policy enforcement and access control.
- Container network security to protect communication with external networks.
- Secure container registries and image signing for integrity and authenticity.
- Runtime monitoring and logging for detecting and responding to suspicious activities or security incidents.
Addressing these aspects strengthens container security, minimizes vulnerabilities, and safeguards against threats and unauthorized access.
What are the essential practices in compute security monitoring and incident response?
Compute Security Monitoring and Incident Response involves proactive monitoring of systems, networks, and applications to detect and respond to security incidents. Its key components are:
- Security monitoring and log analysis: Continuous monitoring of system logs, network traffic, and security events to identify potential threats or suspicious activities.
- Incident detection and response: Promptly identifying and responding to security incidents through established incident response procedures.
- Forensics and post-incident analysis: Conducting forensic analysis and investigations to understand root causes, determine damage, and improve security measures.
- Security event correlation and threat intelligence analysis.
- Real-time alerting and notifications for prompt incident response.
- Incident reporting and communication to stakeholders.
- Learning from incidents to update security policies and training programs.
Implementing effective monitoring and incident response practices enhances compute security, minimizes breach impact, and ensures a proactive security stance.
What are the compliance and regulatory considerations in compute security?
Compliance and Regulatory Considerations in compute security involve adherence to relevant laws, regulations, and industry-specific requirements. Here are the key components:
- Data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA): Compliance with regulations governing the collection, storage, processing, and transfer of personal data.
- Industry-specific compliance requirements: Meeting obligations specific to sectors like healthcare (HIPAA), finance (PCI-DSS), or government (FISMA).
- Auditing and compliance frameworks: Implementing frameworks such as ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, or SOC 2 for assessing security controls and ensuring compliance.
- Privacy impact assessments and data classification: Assessing privacy risks and categorizing data based on sensitivity.
- Incident reporting and breach notification obligations: Complying with regulations by reporting security incidents and notifying affected parties.
- Regular security assessments and testing: Conducting vulnerability scans and penetration tests to maintain compliance.
- Documentation and record-keeping: Maintaining records to demonstrate compliance efforts.
By addressing compliance and regulatory considerations, organizations can mitigate legal and reputational risks, maintain customer trust, and protect sensitive data in compute environments.
How does industry-standard interoperability management ensure seamless integration in compute security?
Industry-Standard Interoperability Management focuses on ensuring seamless integration and compatibility between different systems and devices within the computing environment. Here are the key components:
- DTMF – SPDM (Device Trust and Management Framework – Secure Device Management): A framework for secure communication between platforms and peripheral devices, enabling device authentication and management.
- DTMF - Redfish API: An open API specification for managing and monitoring hardware components in a data center environment, promoting interoperability across different vendors and devices.
- TPM (Trusted Platform Module): A hardware-based security component that stores cryptographic keys, supports secure boot processes, and enhances authentication and data protection.
- Silicon Root of Trust: Establishes a foundation of trust at the hardware level, ensuring the integrity and authenticity of the computing platform.
These industry-standard practices enable seamless integration, compatibility, and secure management of devices and systems within the computing environment.
Compute security retirement, decommissioning, and repurposing
Product Retirement and Decommissioning
Computing resources must be securely retired and decommissioned to prevent data breaches and comply with security and privacy laws. Organizations have to first sanitize data and securely wipe storage devices before retiring hardware. To prevent unwanted access, delete sensitive settings and credentials. Prevent data recovery by physically destroying or recycling servers, disks, and network equipment through approved e-waste disposal services. For audit and regulatory purposes, the decommissioning process must be thoroughly documented and logged.
Repurposing Compute Resources
Repurposing retired computing resources requires secure transfer and strong security measures. To remove vulnerabilities, reimaging the hardware with trustworthy firmware and operating systems is needed. Sensitive settings and old software should be replaced or deleted. Organizations should disconnect devices from important networks and data when redeploying in non-production settings for testing or training. Repurposed systems must have rigorous access restrictions and monitoring to guarantee security throughout their lifespan.
How do HPE's compute security solutions enhance protection for enterprises?
Regulated industries are faced with pressures to streamline operations and improve security while simultaneously scaling up to take on additional demands for compute. HPE offers compute security solutions that counter the significant challenges within enterprise IT management. HPE protects your data, workloads, and infrastructure, adapting to complex threats to provide you with the world’s most secure industry-standard server portfolio. The latest HPE compute security innovations include:
- HPE ProLiant servers: Creating a foundation for compute across hybrid cloud environments, HPE ProLiant servers deliver world-class workload optimization, 360-degree security, and intelligent automation—all available as a service.
- Silicon Root of Trust: With HPE’s Silicon Root of Trust, you get protection against firmware attacks and exposure to malware, as well as support with server recovery after an attack. The program disallows any malware from being loaded on the server and restores the server to a secure state in the event of an attack—all without any manual involvement.
- Zero-trust provisioning: With certificates that enable zero trust, this provisioning extends the Silicon Root of Trust even deeper within the HPE ProLiant architecture.
- Trusted supply chain: Our servers are assembled in secure facilities with the highest level of conformance requirements, effectively offering advanced end-to-end security. We have you covered from manufacturing and delivery through the lifetime of your architecture to decommissioning.
