SECURITY POLICY

Security and data protection are paramount for us. We take security very seriously and have developed a comprehensive set of practices, technologies and policies to help ensure your data is secure.

If you are currently maintaining your data on personal computers or your own servers, the odds are that we offer a better level of security than what you currently have in place.

This document outlines some of the mechanisms and processes we have implemented to help ensure that your data is protected. Our security practices are grouped in four different areas: Physical Security; Network Security; People Processes and Redundancy and Business Continuity.

Security

Our data centers, managed by the Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been architected to be one of the most flexible and secure cloud computing environments available today. It provides an extremely scalable, highly reliable platform that enables customers to deploy applications and data quickly and securely.

With AWS cloud, not only are infrastructure headaches removed, but so are many of the security issues that come with them. AWS’s world-class, highly secure data centers utilize state-of-the art electronic surveillance and multi-factor access control systems. Data centers are staffed 24x7 by trained security guards, and access is authorized strictly on a least privileged basis. Environmental systems are designed to minimize the impact of disruptions to operations. And multiple geographic regions and Availability Zones allow you to remain resilient in the face of most failure modes, including natural disasters or system failures.

The AWS virtual infrastructure has been designed to provide optimum availability while ensuring complete customer privacy and segregation. For a complete list of all the security measures built into the core AWS cloud infrastructure, platforms, and services, please read the AWS Overview of Security Processes whitepaper.

Network Operations Center

AWS utilizes a wide variety of automated monitoring systems to provide a high level of service performance and availability. AWS monitoring tools are designed to detect unusual or unauthorized activities and conditions at ingress and egress communication points. These tools monitor server and network usage, port scanning activities, application usage, and unauthorized intrusion attempts. The tools have the ability to set custom performance metrics thresholds for unusual activity.

Systems within AWS are extensively instrumented to monitor key operational metrics. Alarms are configured to automatically notify operations and management personnel when early warning thresholds are crossed on key operational metrics. An on‐call schedule is used so personnel are always available to respond to operational issues. This includes a pager system so alarms are quickly and reliably communicated to operations personnel.

Documentation is maintained to aid and inform operations personnel in handling incidents or issues. If the resolution of an issue requires collaboration, a conferencing system is used which supports communication and logging capabilities. Trained call leaders facilitate communication and progress during the handling of operational issues that require collaboration. Post‐mortems are convened after any significant operational issue, regardless of external impact, and Cause of Error (COE) documents are drafted so the root cause is captured and preventative actions are taken in the future. Implementation of the preventative measures is tracked during weekly operations meetings.

People Processes

Designing and running data server infrastructure requires not just technology, but a disciplined approach to processes. This includes policies about escalation, management, knowledge sharing, risk, as well as the day-to-day operations. Kimetrica's security team has years of experience in designing and managing data centers and continually improves our processes over time. Kimetrica has developed a world class practices for managing security and data protection risk.

  • Select Employees. Only employees with the highest clearance have access to our data center data. Employee access is logged and passwords are strictly regulated. We limit access to customer data to only a select few of these employees who need such access to provide support and troubleshooting on our customers' behalf.
  • Audits. Audits are regularly performed and the whole process is reviewed by management
  • As-Needed Basis. Accessing data center information as well as customer data is done on an as-needed only basis, and only when approved by the customer (i.e. as part of a support incident), or by senior security management to provide support and maintenance.

Redundancy and Business Continuity

One of the fundamental philosophies of computing is the acknowledgment and assumption that computer resources will at some point fail. We have designed our systems and infrastructure with that in mind.

  • Distributed Grid Architecture. Kimetrica services run on distributed grid architecture. That means a server can fail without a noticeable impact on the system or our services. In fact, on any given week, multiple servers fail without our customers ever noticing it. The system has been designed knowing that servers will eventually fail - we have implemented our infrastructure to account for that.
  • Power Redundancy. Kimetrica configures its servers for power redundancy from power supply to power delivery.
  • Internet Redundancy. Kimetrica is connected to the world - and you through multiple Tier-1 ISPs. So if any one fails or experiences a delay, you can still reliably get to your applications and information.
  • Redundant Network Devices. Kimetrica runs on redundant network devices (switches, routers, security gateways) to avoid any single point of failure at any level on the internal network.
  • Redundant Cooling and Temperature. Intense computing resources generate a lot of heat, and thus need to be cooled to guarantee a smooth operation. GoGrid servers are backed by N+2 redundant HVAC systems and temperature control systems.
  • Geo Mirroring. Customer data is mirrored in a separate geographic location for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity purposes.
  • Fire Prevention. The GoGrid data centers are guarded by industry-standard fire prevention and control systems.
  • Data Protection & Back-up. User data is backed-up daily across multiple servers - and in different data centers -- helping protect the data in the event of hardware failure of disaster.

Additional Information:

While we cannot list all the details of our infrastructure for security reasons, rest assured that Kimetrica’s security practices, policies and infrastructure are proven and reliable. For more information about Kimetrica and our Security please contact us.