The AI race opens doors to hackers: thousands of infrastructure systems exposed
A TrendAI study identified 6,300 control and automation systems connected to the internet near data centers in the USA. The more alarming finding: in facilities built since 2021, the exposure rate is more than twice as high compared to older data centers.
The data centers that power cloud services and artificial intelligence systems are considered some of the most secure digital facilities in the world. However, a new study by TrendAI points to a vulnerability located outside the servers and computer networks: the systems responsible for ensuring the entire operation continues to receive electricity, stays cool, and does not shut down.
The research division of TrendAI identified 6,300 industrial control systems (ICS) and building automation systems (BAS) connected directly to the public internet, located within less than a kilometer of 1,063 major data centers across the United States.
These are systems that manage critical infrastructure for the operation of server farms, including cooling, power supply, and environmental control and monitoring. According to the study, their exposure to the internet could allow attackers to damage not only the data or the corporate network, but the physical conditions that allow the servers to continue operating.
Here lies the paradox: a data center can be protected by layers of advanced security systems, while an operational system connected to it is outside the corporate security perimeter. In some cases, operational technology (OT) systems are connected directly to the internet, partly to allow for remote maintenance and management.
"Server farms are among the most secure digital environments in the world, but the infrastructures that enable their operation often remain almost entirely outside the security perimeter," said Robert McArdle, Director of Future Threats Research at TrendAI.
According to him, organizations can invest millions of dollars in protecting servers and networks, but an attacker who manages to reach the systems controlling cooling or power supply may achieve the same result — shutting down services.
However, the most striking figure in the study is related specifically to the AI boom. According to the researchers, data centers built from 2021 onwards show an exposure rate of 13.1%, compared to only 4.9% in facilities built before 2010 — more than twice as high.
The researchers estimate that the gap is related to the pressure to quickly build new computing infrastructure in the AI era. According to their assessment, in some cases, the need for availability and rapid deployment took priority over hardening operational systems, and critical systems were connected to the internet without sufficient risk assessment.
Thus, the very race to build the infrastructure upon which the AI wave relies may create a new point of weakness. Not necessarily within the expensive and secure servers themselves, but in the systems that keep them cool, connected to electricity, and operating around the clock.
