Evaluation of Asian Countries Using Data Center Security Index: A Spherical Fuzzy AHP-Based EDAS Approach

Abstract

The motivation of this paper is to assess and compare Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (APAC) coun-tries' risk profiles that impact data centers' (DCs) effectiveness. Because of the importance of DCs, security to protect a DC from external threats and attacks is an issue to be addressed. However, the conflicted na-ture of the evaluation criteria (such as infrastructure, energy, natural, business, political, and legal risks) makes it difficult to assess the countries' profiles. The objective of this paper is to provide a systematic evaluation methodology using two different multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches, namely spherical fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (SF-AHP) and EDAS (evaluation based on distance from aver-age solution). While SF-AHP is preferred to prioritize the main and sub-criteria under imprecise decision making environment, EDAS is used to rank the countries' DC profiles embedding the obtained criteria weights. The results of the methods have been compared with the ranking results presented in the re-port called as Data Centre Security Index (DCSI) is published by Technology Research Project Corporate (TRPC). Consequently, Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand rank in the top three due to their high electrification rates and secure internet servers.(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.