Rubrik automates data security with AI across clouds

When I started working in the technology field decades ago, I quickly discovered how challenging it was to ensure data security, governance, compliance, backup, and recovery. Data continues to be important—twenty years ago and today—making data control and security essential. The good news is that data security providers have made great strides as they work to stay ahead of bad actors who want to compromise enterprise data. What’s even better is that these vendors are now improving their offerings with AI.

One of the companies that has made significant progress in all of these areas – most recently AI – is Rubrik, which offers a cyber resiliency suite that now includes both proactive cyber posture and cyber recovery after the fact. Rubrik’s solutions are designed to protect against cyber attacks with significant business impact across enterprise infrastructure, cloud environments and SaaS applications with a focus on backup, data protection, threat analysis and cyber recovery.

Note that although Rubrik is a client of Moore Insights & Strategy, this article contains our independent analysis of the company, and no one at Rubrik was given final approval on it.

Rubrik’s Background, Offerings and Market

Before we dive into the company’s progress in AI, let’s look at some background. Rubrik, which is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, was founded in January 2014. Since then, it has expanded to more than 3,000 employees and achieved $600 million in recurring annual subscription revenue. Rubrik’s growth has established it as a leader in enterprise backup and recovery, and it is now ranked ninth on Forbes’ Top 100 Private Cloud Companies.

The company’s solutions address the specific needs and concerns of global enterprises, with continuous monitoring to prevent compromise. The Rubrik Security Cloud architecture has a strong focus on four core areas: data protection, threat analysis, security posture, and cyber recovery. For data security, Rubrik creates secure backups and protects against threats like ransomware. Threat analysis detects anomalies and identifies potential compromises in backups. Rubrik enhances the data security posture by using a unified command center to control user access and reduce sensitive data exposure. Finally, cyber recovery emphasizes threat prevention once an issue has been identified, as well as proactive simulation to validate cyber recovery workflows so that data can be systematically recovered after an incident. Could.

Rubrik’s backbone for its offerings is a zero-trust data security architecture. This framework, influenced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Zero Trust model, is anchored by a unique file system of Rubrik that does not expose backup data through open network protocols. The company also automatically encrypts cloud storage and backups; What’s better is that it stores data in an immutable format, which is a feature that is not offered by all backup providers.

These capabilities address a range of use cases across different industries. In the healthcare sector, organizations use Rubrics to secure and retrieve sensitive EHR patient data. Financial services companies enhance customer data security by automating workflows (eliminating manual tasks to allow faster response times), protecting against ransomware attacks, and ensuring compliance with stringent data regulations such as GDPR. Government agencies also employ rubrics for secure data management; Its security cloud is designed to comply with standards such as CJIS, FedRAMP, StateRAMP, PERPA, and the Department of Defense’s Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide.

Bringing AI into data security

Rubrik has adopted AI-powered technologies, including a new AI assistant called Ruby. Built on Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service, Ruby is part of Rubrik’s strategy to use AI to improve customer organizations’ response to cyber threats, especially for IT personnel – even those with less cybersecurity knowledge. Even without – making it easier to identify real threats and respond to them quickly. , Rubrik says Ruby incorporates expertise based on best practices the company has developed by working with thousands of customers. Whenever Rubrik detects indicators of a compromise, Ruby notifies security staff and uses its interactive chat interface to guide them through the necessary steps to understand and respond to the threat.

In short, Ruby brings the recent wave of AI-powered “copilot” functionality to the cybersecurity arena. My colleagues at Moore Insights & Strategy have analyzed this type of functionality as it’s been introduced at Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Intuit, Zoom, and others, so it’s no surprise to see it deployed for enterprise security functions as well. Is. In fact, cybersecurity advances so quickly that an interactive AI assistant could be especially welcome for overtaxed security operations professionals. Only time will tell.

Ruby is based on years of work in machine learning that is the basis of Rubrik’s Data Threat Engine. This approach detects suspicious data activities such as abnormal deletion, modification, and encryption while reducing false positives and false negatives. Rubrik has also created SentryAI, an in-house AI engine to analyze customer telemetry data. This enables the company’s customer support teams to provide proactive, personalized recommendations for each customer.

Rubrik expands its footprint through acquisitions and partnerships

Rubrik acquired Laminar, a data security posture management platform, in August 2023. The combination of Laminar with Rubrik’s existing offerings should provide organizations with additional visibility to their data across all environments to prevent cyber attacks, expand their security posture beyond traditional network and endpoint security, and effectively defend . Against sophisticated cyber threats.

To broaden its customer reach, Rubrik has also partnered with leading technology companies, including Microsoft, NetApp, Cisco, AWS, and Pure Storage. Among other things, these partnerships provide security for hybrid Azure environments, integration with Microsoft 365 Backup, security in AWS, and automated data management using NetApp APIs. Additionally, Rubrik offers automated data protection for platforms such as Oracle and VMware. Rubrik’s recent partnership with Aon further expands its data security solutions, giving Rubrik customers access to Aon Cyber ​​Resiliency services and Aon customers access to the Rubrik Security Cloud.

competitive landscape

Rubrik faces competition from several significant players in the data security field. These competitors, including Cohesity, Veeam, Commvault, Veritas, Dell EMC, IBM, NetApp, AWS, HYCU, and Azure, offer a variety of solutions, including backup and recovery, data protection, data resiliency, data observability, and data governance.

In this competitive field, Cohesity stands out for its emphasis on hyper-converged data security, which closely mirrors Rubrik’s expertise. Veem offers comprehensive backup and recovery solutions, while Commvault boasts a comprehensive data protection suite. Dell EMC has a range of backup and recovery tools, while NetApp, known primarily for storage, also extends to data management and security. Veritas, known for its data security solutions like NetBackup and HYCU, both are playing important roles in the data security industry. IBM Security, which has a wide ecosystem, is also an important player in this area. When considering vendors in this area, I suggest evaluating product offerings, market impact, customer reviews, and financial strength to identify the best fit for your organization or sector.

Sometimes, I like to use a traditional SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to better understand goals and objectives. In businesses I’ve worked with, SWOT has been helpful in identifying current or potential problems, helping to understand areas that need improvement, or showing how to be more efficient with processes or resources. As I conduct a brief SWOT analysis of Rubrik, I see that it faces notable challenges in the competitive cloud data management market, competing with other established firms that could threaten its market position. A potential weakness can be seen in the complexity of its technology, which may require additional training or support for customers and prospects. Rubrik’s lack of much focus on integration of its solutions with on-premises ERP system data may limit the scope of its future application and could be viewed as a weakness. The Company must constantly innovate to keep pace with rapid technological changes and diverse regional data protection laws, threats that may shape its operational strategies.

However, these challenges also present opportunities. By establishing additional strategic technology partnerships, particularly with ERP vendors, Rubrik can enhance its market presence, while also taking advantage of the growing adoption of digital technologies by emerging markets. While the rubric addresses its threats and weaknesses, it also has significant opportunities for expansion.

my take

Rubrik has become one of the major players in the data security market, which is expected to reach $215 billion in 2024. The company is prioritizing data security through its security cloud with a multi-tier security model. The Ruby AI assistant appears promising and is in line with the growing needs of the data security market. Many companies have launched AI products early to meet competitors and market demands. It remains to be seen whether Ruby was released at the right time after extensive testing, or whether it was brought to market due to these pressures.

Rubrik’s growth through acquisitions and its partner program is noteworthy, as it enables the company to expand its offerings and provide customers access to complementary technologies. Rubrik’s subscription-based pricing is in line with industry standards, providing customers with flexibility. As Rubrik continues its growth path, competitors will undoubtedly step up their efforts. I look forward to seeing how Rubrik continues its approach to meeting the ever-changing demands of data security.