At information-intensive companies, data centers don’t just hold the crown jewels; they are the crown jewels. Protecting them is a job for whiz-bang technologists, of course. But just as important, it’s a job for those with expertise in physical security and business continuity. That’s because all the encryption and live backups in the world are a waste of money if someone can walk right into the data center with a pocket knife, a camera phone and bad intentions. There are plenty of complicated documents that can guide companies through the process of designing a secure data center—from the gold-standard specs used by the federal government to build sensitive facilities like embassies, to infrastructure standards published by industry groups like the Telecommunications Industry Association, to safety requirements from the likes of the National Fire Protection Association. But what should be the CSO’s high-level goals for making sure that security for the new data center is built into the designs, instead of being an expensive or ineffectual afterthought?