ST IT CEO commented to Kommersant FM on protecting data centers from drones
Source: Kommersant FM
After drone attacks on Yandex data centers, the industry is discussing how to protect them. Anton Averyanov explained what underground placement gives and why protection is now part of construction costs
About the news
Drone attacks on Yandex data centers have started a discussion on how to strengthen critical IT infrastructure. According to Kommersant's sources and Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadaev, more than 80% of commercial infrastructure projects are located in the European part of Russia, mostly in Moscow and the Moscow region
The Ministry of Digital Development is working on a concept of data centers protected by design. One of the options discussed in the industry is to build them underground, where low server racks are easier to install and equipment is easier to cool
Expert commentary
ST IT CEO Anton Averyanov told Kommersant FM that underground placement will not remove the risks completely. It will most likely protect against light drones, he said, but stronger charges can penetrate the layer of earth and damage the infrastructure
The Ministry of Defense can help with air defense and units that shoot down drones with portable launchers. The question, according to Anton Averyanov, is how many sites can be covered and how quickly: there are about 250 data centers in the country
Comprehensive protection of a large site costs at least hundreds of millions of rubles, according to experts interviewed by Kommersant FM. Anton Averyanov believes these costs will increase the burden on budgets and the investment risks of data centers: the threats are already being built into the economics of projects
