Have you ever wondered just how Google protects your data? The company has released a video that highlights some of the measures it uses to keep your data safe.

Many Google users have asked the company about the possibility of taking part in a tour of the data centers to better understand how their data is protected. However, access to the facilities is tightly restricted and Google felt that releasing a video would help users to gain an insight into how data is protected as it does not permit the public to visit its data centers. While this video focuses on security and data protection for Google Apps customers in particular, it provides a terrific insight into the inner workings of the company and how it protects your data.

It’s a fascinating watch, and it is particularly interesting to see how Google disposes of faulty drives in order to safeguard its customers’ data. Gaining an insider’s look into the physical security procedures (barriers, perimeter fencing and a 24/7 security presence) and power management procedures (in case of a power failure or other technical issue) is very cool too.

Some of the security measures include:

• Access control with biometric identification and badging.

• Video monitoring and video analytics.

• A rapid response from local law enforcement when necessary.

• Files being fragmented so that if the security of one hard drive is breached, not all of a customer’s data will be affected.

• Fire detection and suppression capabilities.

There are many other security procedures that Google employs to protect data but these have not been disclosed in this video — for security reasons, of course.

It is also interesting to learn that Google is conscious of its carbon footprint, and has reduced its energy consumption by 50 percent. I’m sure that will make Greenpeace happy — the environmental organization has been campaigning for Facebook to stop using coal to power its data centers. Google, meanwhile, earlier this week committed to using more wind energy to power its data centers.