You Can’t Sleep in the AI Era: The Brutal Reality of Securing Modern Data Centers

December 25, 2025

Author

Uriel Kosayev

Uriel Kosayev is a cybersecurity researcher, reverse engineer, and author of MAoS and Antivirus Bypass Techniques. He’s led real-world red team ops, malware investigations, and incident response cases. As the founder of TrainSec Academy, he teaches professionals to think like attackers and defend with precision. His training is practical, focused, and based on real threats, not theory.

A summary and perspective from the panel discussion at the “Data Centers & Cloud 2025” conference.

In a recent panel of industry experts convened at the annual Data Centers & Cloud 2025 event, we explored how data‑centres and cloud infrastructures are preparing for the AI era and why the sleep‑at‑night factor may be under threat for many organizations.

Setting the Scene

As AI and data‑intensive workloads move to the fore, traditional data‑centre and cloud infrastructure are under unprecedented pressure. The panel, which included cloud and cyber‑security leaders from government, healthcare and enterprise, examined how legacy installation, hybrid models, regulation, infrastructure scaling, and the human factor combine to create a volatile mix.

My Key Takeaways (as Uriel Kosayev)

“You can breach any data‑centre … and any user.”
Even the most hardened data‑centre or the most privileged user account is not immune. AI brings tremendous potential but also heightened responsibility. If we don’t manage access and permissions correctly, the whole system can unravel.
The cloud‑transition is harder than it sounds.
Many organizations still operate substantial on‑premise installations. In practice, the hybrid model becomes a bridge but also a risk vector. Maintaining parallel operations on‑premise and in the cloud adds complexity and creates new attack surfaces.
From defeat‑preparation to damage‑limitation? That’s not good enough.
Too many organizations have moved from “we will defend and win” to “we anticipate we’ll be attacked and aim to limit damage”. That signals a weaker stance akin to buying a car without a full inspection.

Other Panel Highlights

Tali Shitrit emphasized that although dedicated hardware installs will continue in the short term, the long‑term strategic direction must be cloud‑centric especially as AI workloads scale.
Orna Granot stressed data sovereignty: keeping all sensitive data in Israel.
Moshe Praver noted hyperscalers’ advantage but warned of availability risks in crisis scenarios.
Alex Peleg highlighted that security focus shifts from hardware protection to entity protection in cloud environments.

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Why This Matters

Hybrid complexity = hybrid risk.
AI workloads demand new infrastructure scale.
Identity becomes the critical vulnerability point.
Organisational mindset must return to proactive defence, not passive acceptance.

Recommendations

Avoid “lift‑and‑shift” cloud migration; start with identity/permissions design.
Build monitoring and incident response that is hybrid‑aware.
Evaluate cloud providers for sovereignty, regional availability, and crisis resilience.
Test application entry points aggressively, especially those exposed through AI‑augmented services.
Shift to continuous offensive testing: red‑teaming, penetration testing, identity audits.

Final Words

In the AI‑era, the data‑centre is no longer a simple physical facility. It is a dynamic hybrid ecosystem of compute, cloud services, accelerators, and identity flows. Security leaders cannot sleep soundly but with the right architecture and mindset, they can stay ahead of the threat curve.