What security measures should you take with your IT infrastructure architecture patterns?

1 Identify your security objectives

Before you select or design your IT infrastructure architecture pattern, you need to identify your security objectives and priorities. What are the main assets and data that you need to protect? What are the potential threats and vulnerabilities that you face? How much risk are you willing to tolerate? How do you measure and monitor your security performance and compliance? These questions will help you define your security requirements and goals, and guide your decisions on how to implement security controls and policies.

2 Choose a suitable pattern

When selecting an IT infrastructure architecture pattern, you should consider your needs and preferences. Monolithic architecture is a single, large, and tightly coupled system that handles all functions and processes of your IT project, making it simple and easy to manage. However, it can be difficult to scale, update, and secure. Layered architecture divides the system into separate layers or tiers which communicate through well-defined interfaces, making it modular and flexible. Microservices architecture is composed of small, independent, and loosely coupled services that communicate through APIs and can be deployed, updated, and scaled independently. Serverless architecture relies on cloud-based services and platforms to execute functions and processes on demand without managing servers or infrastructure. Each pattern has its own advantages and disadvantages; for example, if you need high availability and scalability you might opt for microservices or serverless pattern; however, if you need strict control and compliance you might prefer a monolithic or layered pattern.

3 Apply security principles

No matter what pattern you decide to use, it's essential to apply some security principles to your IT infrastructure architecture. These principles include defense in depth, least privilege, segregation of duties, and security by design. Defense in depth involves using multiple layers of security controls and mechanisms such as firewalls, encryption, authentication, authorization, logging, auditing, and backup. Least privilege requires granting the minimum level of access and permissions necessary for users and processes to perform their tasks. Segregation of duties calls for separating roles and responsibilities among IT staff and users to prevent conflicts of interest, fraud, and errors. Lastly, security by design means incorporating security considerations and best practices into every stage of your IT project lifecycle. Examples include secure coding standards, code reviews, security testing, and security audits.

4 Update and maintain your IT infrastructure

Your IT infrastructure architecture is not a static entity, but a dynamic and evolving one. Therefore, it is essential to update and maintain your IT infrastructure regularly to keep up with the changing needs and demands of your business and customers, as well as the emerging threats and risks in the cyber landscape. To ensure the security and functionality of your IT systems and resources, you need to patch and upgrade them periodically. Additionally, it is important to monitor and analyze them for any anomalies, breaches, or incidents that might affect your security or availability. In case of a security incident or disaster, you should have a contingency plan and a backup strategy to restore your IT systems and resources as soon as possible.

5 Educate and train your IT staff and users

Your IT infrastructure architecture is only as secure as the people who use and manage it, so you need to educate and train your IT staff and users on security matters. Your security policies and guidelines should be clear and consistent, outlining the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of IT staff and users. Moreover, regular security awareness and training sessions should cover security threats, risks, controls, mechanisms, best practices, and behaviors. Above all, you should cultivate a security culture that values and promotes security as a shared responsibility.