Why Data Centers Want James Bond–Style Security Consultants

In the AI boom, data centers are immensely valuable, and they’re eager to hire consultants from a niche field of firms that can turn a facility into a Fort Knox.

On a quiet September morning, Alex Leithiser was out in the woods somewhere in the South on a secret mission: to break into a data center.

First, he slipped through a small gap in the facility’s barbed wire fence, and as soon as he hit the ground, he switched clothes, pulling a fresh set from a small backpack. With cameras and alarms all over the data center, Leithiser hoped to evade security guards looking for someone wearing his original outfit.

Leithiser’s plan worked. He came and went without getting caught. But the guards did stop his colleague, who tried to enter the building by striking up a conversation with a group of smokers outside and following the employees inside.