Storage network (SAN): what it is and how it is attacked
A high-speed network whose only job is connecting servers to disks.
Also known as
- SAN
- storage area network
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
It underpins many systems at once, so a problem here is rarely contained to one of them.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Management network shared with ordinary office traffic
What reduces it
- Keep the storage management network separate from ordinary office traffic
- Watch who can change which server sees which disks, because that is a one-step data move
Where it sits
- Group
- Storage · Where data sits still.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- storage-network
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in storage
- Shared file storeNAS · network attached storageA box on the network that holds shared files.
- Cloud storageS3 · blob storage · bucket · object storage · cloud file storageA pool of files kept in a cloud platform, each one labelled and fetched by name rather than filed in folders.
- Backup vaultimmutable backup · offline backup · air-gapped copyA copy of your data held so that it cannot be changed or deleted for a set period, including by an administrator, for as long as the retention lock is genuinely in force.
The storage group lists all 4 of them side by side.
Storage network on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type SAN. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker