Rubrik Extends Cloud-Native Protection Reach to Virtual Machines

Rubrik has added support for both Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, an add-on to a Kubernetes platform that makes it possible to encapsulate virtual machines, and Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE), an open-source virtualization platform based on Quick Emulator (QEMU) software packaged with an instance of a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) and Linux Containers (LVC).

Anneka Gupta, chief product officer for Rubrik, said these extensions to Rubrik Security Cloud will make it simpler to protect data and recover different classes of applications running in a cloud-native environment.

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It’s not clear how many IT organizations are running monolithic applications on Kubernetes clusters using OpenShift Virtualization or QEMU, but many IT teams are looking to streamline the number of platforms they support. These technologies enable IT teams to run legacy monolithic applications on Kubernetes clusters.

The challenge IT teams then encounter is they need to be able to back and recover monolithic applications alongside microservices-based applications running on the same clusters, said Gupta. That platform includes a Rubi agent that leverages generative artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify backup and recovery regardless of the types of applications deployed, noted Gupta.

In addition to all the traditional disaster recovery scenarios that IT teams need to address; backup and recovery today plays a much larger role in cybersecurity. The only way to thwart those attacks is to be able to recover pristine copies of the data that cybercriminals have encrypted.

Cybercriminals are also now specifically targeting cloud-native IT platforms that are now running more applications in production environments. Many of those applications now rank among some of the most mission-critical applications any organization is running.

In general, the rise of ransomware threats has chosen which backup and recovery platform to use as a much more strategic decision. More organizations are relying on cloud services such as Rubrik Security Cloud that, among other capabilities, provide tools to ensure that the data stored has not been infected with malware that would encrypt data as part of a coordinated cyberattack. Many ransomware attacks first target backup and recovery files to prevent organizations from being able to access pristine copies of their data.

Ransomware attacks are increasing in terms of both volume and sophistication. Ransomware-as-a-service platforms make it possible for cybercriminal syndicates to create a library of attacks that third parties can license. That approach eliminates the need for many cybercriminals to create their own malware. AI tools, meanwhile, are making it easier than ever to create malware.

Each IT team should decide how to best manage backup and recovery as part of their cyber resiliency efforts. In many organizations, responsibility for security operations (SecOps) is increasingly being shifted to IT teams to achieve that goal.

In the meantime, organizations should assume that one day they will discover a ransomware attack targeting a cloud-native application environment. The challenge now is finding a way to protect those applications alongside all the other platforms that IT teams are already using to run a raft of legacy applications that they are already trying to protect.