As part of the Polish Cloud , with the active involvement of member companies, Polcom contributed to the project to provide an additional 11 time servers. As a result, the national stock of these servers has increased by more than 15 per cent. The association’s member companies make their server resources available free of charge to provide support to companies and organisations in the area of time synchronisation, which can have an impact on cybersecurity.
Why is time synchronisation important?
The main objective of the Polish Cloud initiative is to increase the level of security by ensuring reliable time synchronisation in IT infrastructure devices across Poland. We undertook this task because we recognised the threat posed by the insufficient number of time servers in the country. While in Western countries the stock of time servers numbered in the hundreds, in Poland the number was only in the double-digits. As an association of Polish data centres, whose mission includes caring for data sovereignty and security, we decided to jointly respond to this problem and increase the number of available servers. In total, we have made 11 servers available, thereby increasing their number by more than 15 percent – says Wiesław Wilk, President of the Polish Cloud Association.
The resources provided by Polcom, among others, play an extremely important role as a back-up for other servers. This is particularly important for companies using IT infrastructure and representatives of the public sector and government administration.
The importance of time synchronisation in an IT system is often misunderstood and underestimated in organisations. The solution to this problem may be the use of so-called time servers. Unfortunately, their number in Poland is still insufficient – emphasises one of the project initiators Mateusz Tykierko, Vice President of the Polish Cloud Association.
Secure infrastructure through time servers
Time synchronisation is crucial to ensure a secure IT infrastructure. There are some services that need precise time stamping in order to function properly, such as logging mechanisms, event monitoring or time certification in financial transactions.
By transmitting data from servers to IT networks, both global and local, all connected devices can update the hour in real time. In contrast, potential anomalies can increase vulnerability to cyber-attacks and make security incident analysis more difficult.
Modern cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using a variety of techniques and tools. Time server attacks, especially DDoS attacks and attacks on time protocols, have become commonplace. By increasing the number of time servers, we are securing a key piece of infrastructure against possible disruption. The potential for action in this area is high. Therefore, we invite all Polish data centres to cooperate in this area. We will be happy to share the lessons learned from the project free of charge so that together we can build a more threat-proof digital space – emphasises Mateusz Tykierko.
The provision of additional servers therefore increases the availability and reliability of the IT infrastructure, which has an impact on ensuring the continuity of the organisation’s operations. Through the implementation of the project, member companies of the Polish Cloud have a significant impact on building a secure digital future for the country. The initiative is at the same time a reaction to current events and an expression of the association’s great commitment to the long-term security of data and online services.