Rubrik enhances data protection with machine learning
In a repackaging of its primary data protection platform, Rubrik Security Cloud includes new features such as machine learning to better predict cyber attacks and recover faster.
Rubrik unveiled the use of machine learning to better detect and protect against ransomware as part of an overall rebranding of its data protection platform.
At this week's Rubrik Forward 2022 conference in San Diego, the vendor highlighted its new Data Observability engine that relies on ML to quickly uncover when user data has been compromised. Rubrik also added a Data Security Command Center feature to its data protection platform to help ensure customers are following best practices for data protection.
The data protection platform has been recast as Rubrik Security Cloud, which emphasizes the criticality of security and provides data protection services for data on premises, in the cloud and in software as a service (SaaS) products, such as Office 365.
Ransomware attacks are top of mind for the C-suite these days, according to Anneka Gupta, chief product officer at Rubrik. She said companies need to plan for potential attacks and how they're going to recover when an attack happens.
"The world of the CIO and the world of the CSO are starting to collide," Gupta said.
Rubrik is repackaging what it offers in data protection while expanding capabilities and offering a cohesive, holistic way for customers to manage and remediate data risks, she said. Rubrik Security Cloud is generally available now with new enhancements available this summer.
The new Rubrik Security Cloud data protection product.
A new way to detect issues
Rubrik added ML to its Data Observability engine to monitor data usage and better spot anomalies and spikes in backup or encryption activity, according to Phil Goodwin, an analyst at IDC.
"[ML] can spot attacks on data in ways that perhaps have never before been seen," Goodwin said.
The world of the CIO and the world of the CSO are starting to collide.
Anneka GuptaChief product officer, Rubrik
The engine provides a forensic analysis of compromised data to help organizations find when, how and where the attack happened, Goodwin said. Data can be quarantined into a logically air-gapped Cloud Vault and analyzed away from operational data.
"Once you understand the nature of the attack," he said, "you can then form a strategy on how to recover."
Goodwin believes Rubrik is the first data protection company to use ML for anomaly detection in cybersecurity and cyber-recovery products. But he added that ML and artificial intelligence (AI) are still in their beginning stages for data protection and that Rubrik's application is likely the first step of many and will help companies develop more than a defensive security posture, he said.
"We're fighting in an inherently defensive action; the bad guys figure some way to attack us, and we figure some way to defend against it," he said.
Rebranding and expanding
Rubrik Security Cloud is a reframing of the vendor's product that focuses on data observability, data resilience and data recovery, Gupta said. Security Cloud builds off the vendor's zero-trust data protection service while adding new features such as the Data Observability engine and the Data Security Command Center.
The Data Security Command Center enables users to see their overall risk score as an organization, Gupta said. The feature looks at how many security options, such as multifactor authentication, are enabled and where. Data Security Command Center also provides visibility into whether security features such as the Data Observability engine are implemented across all users' data.
Rubrik Security Cloud is a single product rather than a cobbling together of a backup and recovery product from one vendor and sensitive data discovery from another, Gupta said.
"We already have all of your data; we are backing it up and see how it changes over time," she said. "This gives us unique insights when it comes to ransomware investigation."
Rubrik Security Cloud is a single product that can be purchased as a foundation, business or enterprise edition based on terabytes protected and the features required.
Adam Armstrong is a TechTarget news writer covering file and block storage hardware, and private clouds. He previously worked at StorageReview.com.
