Inside the Nuclear Bunkers, Mines, and Mountains Being Retrofitted as Data Centers

THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

It’s a sunny June time successful southeast England. I’m driving on a quiet, agrarian roadworthy that stretches done nan Kent countryside. The sun flashes done breaks successful nan hedgerow, offering glimpses of verdant harvest fields and aged farmhouses.

Thick hawthorn and brambles make it difficult to spot nan 10-foot-high razor-wire obstruction that encloses a ample grassy mound. You’d ne'er fishy that 100 feet beneath nan ground, a high-tech unreality computing installation is whirring away, guarding nan astir valuable commodity of our age: digital data.

This subterranean information halfway is located successful a erstwhile atomic bunker that was constructed successful nan early 1950s arsenic a command-and-control halfway for nan Royal Air Force’s radar network. You tin still spot nan decaying actual plinths that nan radar crockery erstwhile sat upon. Personnel stationed successful nan bunker would person intimately watched their screens for signs of nuclear-missile-carrying aircraft.

After nan extremity of nan Cold War, nan bunker was purchased by a London-based net information patient for usage arsenic an ultra-secure information center. Today, nan tract is operated by the Cyberfort Group, a cybersecurity services provider.

I’m an anthropologist visiting nan Cyberfort bunker arsenic portion of my ethnographic research exploring practices of “extreme” information storage. My activity focuses on anxieties of information loss and nan effort we take—or often hide to take—to backmost up our data.

As an entity of anthropological enquiry, nan bunkered information halfway continues nan ancient quality believe of storing precious relics successful underground sites, for illustration nan tumuli and funeral mounds of our ancestors, wherever tools, silver, gold, and different treasures were interred.

The Cyberfort installation is 1 of galore bunkers astir nan world that person now been repurposed arsenic unreality retention spaces. Former explosive shelters in China, derelict Soviet command-and-control centers in Kyiv, and abandoned Department of Defense bunkers across nan United States have each been repackaged complete nan past 2 decades arsenic “future-proof” information retention sites.

I’ve managed to unafraid support to sojourn immoderate of these high-security sites arsenic portion of my fieldwork, including Pionen, a erstwhile defense shelter successful Stockholm, Sweden, which has attracted sizeable media liking complete nan past 2 decades because it looks for illustration nan high-tech lair of a James Bond villain.

Many abandoned mines and upland caverns person besides been re-engineered arsenic integer information repositories, specified arsenic the Mount10 AG complex, which brands itself arsenic nan “Swiss Fort Knox” and has buried its operations wrong nan Swiss Alps. Cold War-era accusation guidance institution Iron Mountain operates an underground information halfway 10 minutes from downtown Kansas City and different successful a erstwhile limestone excavation in Boyers, Pennsylvania.

The National Library of Norway stores its integer databanks successful upland vaults conscionable southbound of nan Arctic Circle, while a Svalbard ember excavation was transformed into a information retention tract by nan information preservation company Piql. Known arsenic nan Arctic World Archive (AWA), this subterranean information preservation installation is modeled connected nan nearby Global Seed Vault.

Just arsenic nan seeds preserved successful nan Global Seed Vault committedness to thief rebuild biodiversity successful nan aftermath of early collapse, nan digitized records stored successful nan AWA committedness to thief reboot organizations aft their collapse.

Bunkers are architectural reflections of taste anxieties. If atomic bunkers erstwhile mirrored existential fears astir atomic warfare, past today’s information bunkers speak to nan emergence of a caller existential threat endemic to integer society: nan terrifying imaginable of information loss.

Data, nan New Gold?

After parking my car, I show my ID to a ample and muscular bald-headed defender squeezed into a information booth not overmuch larger than a payphone box. He’s wearing a achromatic fleece pinch “Cyberfort” embroidered connected nan near broadside of nan chest. He checks my sanction against today’s visitant list, nods, past pushes a fastener to retract nan electrical gates.

I travel an open-air corridor constructed from alloy grating to nan doorway of nan reception building and property a buzzer. The doorway opens connected to nan reception area: “Welcome to Cyberfort,” receptionist Laura Harper says cheerfully, sitting down a table successful beforehand of a bulletproof model which faces nan car park. I manus her my passport, spot my container successful 1 of nan lockers, and return a spot successful nan waiting area.

Big-tech pundits person heralded information arsenic the “new gold”—a metaphor made each nan much vivid erstwhile information is stored successful abandoned mines. And arsenic nan purported economical and taste worth of information continues to grow, truthful excessively does nan effect of information loss.

For individuals, nan nonaccomplishment of integer information tin beryllium a devastating experience. If a individual instrumentality should clang aliases beryllium hacked aliases stolen pinch nary caller back-ups having been made, it tin mean nan nonaccomplishment of valuable activity aliases cherished memories. Most of america astir apt person a data-loss scary communicative we could tell.

For governments, corporations, and businesses, a terrible information nonaccomplishment event—whether done theft, erasure, aliases web failure—can person a important effect connected operations aliases moreover consequence successful their collapse. The online services of high-profile companies like Jaguar and Marks & Spencer have precocious been impacted by large-scale cyberattacks that person near them struggling to operate, pinch systems shutdown and proviso chains disrupted. But these companies person been comparatively lucky: a number of organizations had to permanently adjacent down after awesome information nonaccomplishment events, specified arsenic nan TravelEx ransomware onslaught successful 2020, and nan MediSecure and National Public Data breaches, some successful 2024.

With nan economical and societal effect of information nonaccomplishment growing, immoderate businesses are turning to bunkers pinch nan dream of avoiding a information nonaccomplishment last day scenario.

The Concrete Cloud

One of nan first things visitors to nan Cyberfort bunker brushwood successful nan waiting area is simply a 3-foot cylinder of actual wrong a solid show cabinet, showcasing nan thickness of nan information center’s walls. The brute materiality of nan bunkered information halfway stands successful stark opposition to nan fluffy metaphor of nan “cloud,” which is often utilized to talk online information storage.

Data centers, sometimes known arsenic “server farms,” are nan buildings wherever unreality information is stored. When we transportation our information into nan cloud, we are transferring it connected to servers successful a information halfway (hence nan meme “there is nary cloud, conscionable personification else’s computer”). Data centers typically return nan shape of windowless, warehouse-scale buildings containing hundreds of servers (pizza-box-shaped computers) stored successful cabinets that are arranged successful aisles.

Data centers are responsible for running galore of nan services that underpin nan systems we interact pinch each day. Transportation, logistics, energy, finance, nationalist security, wellness systems, and different lifeline services each trust connected up-to-the-second information stored successful and accessed done information centers. Everyday activities specified arsenic debit and in installments paper payments, sending emails, booking tickets, receiving matter messages, utilizing societal media, hunt engines, and AI chatbots, streaming TV, making video calls, and storing integer photos each trust connected information centers.

These buildings now link specified an unthinkable scope of activities and utilities crossed government, business, and nine that immoderate downtime tin person awesome consequences. The UK authorities has officially classified information centers arsenic forming portion of nan country’s critical nationalist infrastructure—a move that besides conveniently enables nan authorities to justify building galore much of these energy-guzzling facilities.

As I beryllium pondering nan actual reality of nan unreality successful Cyberfort’s waiting area, nan company’s main integer officer, Rob Arnold, emerges from a corridor. It was Arnold who arranged my visit, and we caput for his office—through a information doorway pinch a biometric fingerprint lock—where he talks maine done nan logic of nan bunkered information center.

“The problem pinch astir above-ground information centers is they are often constructed quickly, and not built to withstand beingness threats for illustration beardown winds, car bombs, aliases server theft from breaking and entering.” Arnold says that “most group thin to deliberation of nan cyber broadside of information security—hackers, viruses, and cyberattacks—which dangerously overlooks nan beingness side.”

Amid expanding geopolitical tension, net infrastructure is now a high-value target arsenic “hybrid” aliases “cyber-physical” sabotage (when cyberattacks are mixed pinch beingness attacks) becomes progressively common.

The value of beingness net information has been highlighted by nan warfare successful Ukraine, wherever drone strikes and different attacks connected integer infrastructure person led to internet shutdowns. While precise specifications astir nan number of information centers destroyed successful nan conflict stay scant, it has been observed that Russian attacks connected section information centers successful Ukraine person led galore organizations to migrate their information to unreality accommodation located extracurricular of nan conflict zone.

Bunkers entreaty to what Arnold calls “security-conscious” clients. He says: “It’s difficult to find a building much unafraid than a bunker”—before adding drily: “The customer mightiness not past nan apocalypse, but their information will.”

Cyberfort specializes successful serving regulated industries. Its customer guidelines includes companies moving successful defense, wellness care, finance, and captious infrastructure. “Our halfway offering focuses connected providing secure, sovereign, and compliant unreality and data-center services,” Arnold explains successful a well-rehearsed income routine. “We do much for our customers than conscionable big systems—we protect their reputations.”

Arnold’s transportation is disrupted by a sound astatine nan door. The caput of information (who I’m calling Richard Thomas here) enters—a 6-foot-tall ex-Royal Marine wearing achromatic cargo trousers, achromatic combat boots, and a achromatic Cyberfort-branded polo shirt. Thomas is going to show maine astir nan installation today.

The entranceway to nan bunker is located up a short entree road. Engineered to withstand nan blast and radiation effects of megaton-level thermonuclear detonations, this unreality retention bunker promises its clients that their information will past immoderate eventuality.

At nan armor-plated entranceway door, Thomas taps a passcode into nan physics fastener and swipes his paper done nan entree power system. Inside, nan aerial is cool and musty. Another information defender sits successful a mini room down bulletproof plexiglass. He buzzes america done a metallic mantrap and we descend into nan depths of nan installation via a alloy staircase, our footsteps echoing successful this cavernous space.

The dense blast doors and actual walls of nan bunker look strangely astatine likelihood pinch nan virtual “walls” we typically subordinate pinch information security: firewalls, anti-virus vaults, and spyware and spam filters. Similarly, nan bunker’s subject logics of enclosure and isolation look somewhat outdated erstwhile faced pinch nan transgressive integer “flows” of networked data.

However, to disregard nan bunkered information halfway arsenic simply an outmoded portion of information theatre is to place nan value of beingness security—today and successful nan future.

We often deliberation of nan net arsenic an immaterial aliases ethereal realm that exists successful an physics non-place. Metaphors for illustration nan now retro-sounding cyberspace and, much recently, nan unreality perpetuate this measurement of thinking.

But nan unreality is simply a worldly infrastructure composed of thousands of miles of cables and rows upon rows of computing equipment. It ever “touches nan ground” somewhere, making it susceptible to a scope of non-cyber threats—from thieves breaking into information centers and stealing servers, to solar storms disrupting electrical supplies, and moreover to squirrels chewing done cables.

If information halfway services should spell down, moreover for a fewer seconds, the economical and societal effect tin beryllium calamitous. In caller years we person seen this firsthand.

In July 2020, the 27-minute Cloudflare outage led to a 50 percent illness successful postulation crossed nan globe, disrupting awesome platforms for illustration Discord, Shopify, Feedly, and Politico. In June 2021, the Fastly outage left immoderate of nan world’s astir visited websites wholly inaccessible, including Amazon, PayPal, Reddit, and The New York Times. In October 2021, Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, experienced an outage for respective hours that affected millions of societal media users arsenic good arsenic hundreds of businesses.

Perhaps nan largest net outage yet occurred successful July 2024 erstwhile the CrowdStrike outage left supermarkets, doctors’ surgeries, pharmacies, airports, train providers, and banks (among different captious services) incapable to operate. This was described by immoderate successful nan manufacture as “one of nan largest wide outages successful IT history.”

Internet architecture now relies connected specified a analyzable and vulnerable ecosystem of interdependencies that awesome outages are getting bigger and occurring much often. Downtime events tin person a lasting financial and reputational effect connected information halfway providers. Some attempts to quantify nan mean costs of an unplanned information halfway outage range from $9,000 to $17,000 per minute.

The geographic location of a information halfway is besides hugely important for information protection regulations, Thomas explains, arsenic we make our measurement down a brightly lit corridor. “Cyberfort’s accommodation are each located successful nan UK, which gives our clients bid of mind, knowing they comply pinch information sovereignty laws.”

Data sovereignty regulations taxable information to nan ineligible and privateness standards of nan state successful which it is stored. This intends businesses and organizations must beryllium observant astir wherever successful nan world their information is being relocated erstwhile they move it into nan cloud. For example, if a UK business opts to shop their information pinch a unreality supplier that uses information centers based successful nan US past that information will beryllium taxable to US privateness standards, which do not afloat comply pinch UK privateness standards.

In opposition to early perceptions of nan net arsenic transcending space, eradicating nationalist borders and geopolitics, information sovereignty regulations endow locality pinch renewed value successful nan unreality era.

The Survival of Data astatine All Costs

Towards nan extremity of nan corridor, Thomas opens a ample reddish blast-proof door—beyond which is simply a smaller air-tight door. Thomas waves his paper successful beforehand of an e-reader, initiating an unlocking process: We’re astir to participate 1 of nan server rooms.

“Get ready” he says, smiling, “it’s going to beryllium acold and loud!” The doorway opens, releasing a unreserved of acold air. The server room is configured and calibrated for nan sole intent of providing optimal conditions for information storage.

Like immoderate computer, servers make a immense magnitude of power erstwhile they are running, and must beryllium stored in constantly air-conditioned rooms to guarantee they do not overheat. If for immoderate logic a server should clang aliases fail, it tin lead to nan nonaccomplishment of a client’s valuable data. Data halfway technicians activity in high-pressure conditions where immoderate unexpected server downtime could mean nan extremity of their job.

To effort and make judge nan servers tally optimally, information centers trust on huge amounts of water and energy, which tin importantly limit nan readiness of these resources for nan group who unrecorded successful nan vicinity of nan buildings.

An mean information halfway consumes an estimated 200 terawatt-hours of energy each year. Globally, that adds up to astir 1 percent of full energy demand, which is much than nan nationalist power consumption of immoderate countries. Many of these accommodation are powered by nonrenewable power sources, and nan information halfway manufacture is expected to emit 2.5 cardinal tons of c dioxide by 2030.

In addition, to meet expectations for “uninterruptible” work levels, information centers trust connected an array of fossil-fuel-based backup infrastructure—primarily diesel generators. For this reason, the Green Web Foundation—a nonprofit statement moving to decarbonize nan internet—has described nan net arsenic nan world’s largest coal-powered machine. Data centers are besides noisy and person go sites of protestation for section residents upset about noise pollution.

Amid hype and speculation astir nan emergence of AI, which is starring to a boom successful nan building of energy-hungry information centers, nan c footprint of nan manufacture is nether expanding scrutiny. Keen to item Cyberfort’s efforts to reside these issues, Thomas informs maine that “environmental effect is simply a cardinal information for Cyberfort, and we return our committedness to these issues very seriously.”

As we locomotion down a acold aisle of whirring servers, he explains that Cyberfort actively sources energy from renewable power proviso chains, and uses what he calls a “closed-loop” cooling infrastructure which consumes minimal caller water.

“Like nan Pyramids”

After our locomotion done nan server room, we statesman to make our measurement retired of nan bunker, heading done different heavy-duty blast door. As we locomotion down nan corridor, Thomas promotes nan durability of bunkers arsenic a further information trading point. Patting nan acold actual wall pinch nan thenar of his hand, he says: “Bunkers are built to last, for illustration nan pyramids.”

Bunker scholars have agelong noted that these buildings are arsenic overmuch astir clip arsenic they are astir space. Bunkers are designed to sphere and carrier their contents done time, from an apocalyptic coming into a safe future.

Writers specified as Paul Virilio, W.G. Sebald, and J.G. Ballard were drawn to nan decaying bunkers of nan Second World War and, for illustration Thomas, compared them pinch enduring megastructures which person outlived nan civilizations that built them. In his 1975 book Bunker Archaeology, Virilio famously compared nan abandoned Nazi bunkers on nan seashore of France pinch “the Egyptian mastabas, nan Etruscan tombs, nan Aztec structures.”

The bunker’s durability invites america to return a semipermanent position of our ain information retention needs, which will only summation complete nan people of our lives.

For exertion behemoths for illustration Apple and Google, unreality retention is a key strategical avenue for semipermanent gross growth. While nan phones, laptops, and different integer devices they make have limited lifespans, their unreality services connection perchance lifelong information storage. Apple and Google promote america to perpetually hoard our information alternatively than delete it, because this locks america into their unreality subscription services, which go progressively costly nan much retention we need.

Apple’s trading for its unreality retention service, iCloud, encourages users to “take each nan photos you want without worrying astir abstraction connected your devices.” Google has made “archive” alternatively than “delete” the default action connected Gmail. While this reduces nan likelihood of america accidentally deleting an email, it besides intends we are steadily consuming much of our Gmail capacity, starring immoderate to acquisition much Google Drive retention space.

Cloud Hoarders

It is besides progressively difficult to run off-cloud. Internal retention abstraction connected our integer devices is dwindling as nan unreality becomes nan default retention action connected nan mostly of integer products being developed. Users must salary a premium if they want much than nan basal section retention connected their laptop aliases smartphone. Ports to alteration expandable, section storage—such arsenic CD drives aliases SD paper slots—are besides being removed by tech manufacturers.

As our individual integer archives expand, our unreality retention needs will proceed to turn complete our lifetimes, arsenic will nan payments for much and much unreality retention space. And while we often ideate we will 1 time return nan clip to prune our accumulations of integer photos, files, and emails, that task is often indefinitely postponed. In nan meantime, it is quicker and easier to simply acquisition much unreality storage.

Many consumers simply usage whichever unreality retention work is already preinstalled connected their devices—often these are neither nan cheapest nor astir secure option. But erstwhile we perpetrate to 1 provider, it is very difficult to move our information to different if we want a cheaper monthly retention rate, aliases simply want to switch—this requires investing successful capable difficult drives connected which to download nan information from 1 unreality supplier and upload it to another. Not everyone is tech-savvy capable to do that.

In 2013, slope reforms successful nan UK introduced a switching service which enabled consumers to easy move their money and payments to different banks, successful bid to entree much favorable rates. Cloud migration services are disposable for businesses, but until a unreality retention balanced of nan slope switching work is developed for nan wide public, galore of america are fundamentally locked into whichever unreality supplier we person been using. If our information really is nan caller gold, possibly we should require unreality providers to connection incentives to deposit it pinch them.

Some providers now connection “lifetime” unreality packages pinch nary monthly aliases yearly payments and nary inactivity clause. However, nan unreality marketplace is volatile, defined by cycles of roar and bust, pinch providers and their information centers perpetually rebranding, closing, and relocating. In this scenery of mergers and acquisitions, location is nary guarantee that life unreality providers will beryllium astir agelong capable to grant these promises.

In addition, nan mostly of user unreality providers presently only connection a maximum of a fewer terabytes of storage. In nan future, astir of america will astir apt request a batch much than this, which could mean a batch much information centers (roughly 100 caller information centers are group to beryllium constructed successful nan UK unsocial wrong nan adjacent 5 years). We whitethorn besides spot much bunkers being repurposed arsenic information centers. Some providers, for illustration Florida-based Data Shelter, are moreover considering building wholly caller bunker structures from scratch to location integer data.

Resurfacing

Thomas and I get astatine nan alloy staircase starring backmost up to nan extracurricular world. The defender buzzes america backmost done nan turnstile, and Thomas unlocks and opens nan door. The sunlight stings my eyes.

Back successful nan reception area, I convey Arnold and Thomas for my surreal travel into nan depths of subterranean information storage. The Cyberfort information halfway is simply a tract of utmost contrasts, wherever nan ethereal committedness of nan unreality jars pinch nan actual reality of nan bunker.

Sitting successful my car, I adhd to my section notes that nan endurance of data—whether entombed successful bunkers aliases stored successful “lifetime” unreality accounts—is bound to nan churn of markets, and depends upon nan durability of nan infrastructure and organizations down it.

Permanence, successful nan integer age, is ever provisional. One can’t thief but ideate early archaeologists discovering this bunker and rummaging done nan unreadable remains of our mislaid integer civilization.