Microsoft and Rubrik team up to combat ransomware attacks

Microsoft and Rubrik both emphasize the importance of Zero Trust data management to combat ransomware.

What you need to know

• Microsoft will invest in Rubrik to combat ransomware.
• Ransomware attacks are growing 150% annually, according to Rubrik.
• Rubrik specializes in backing up data and helping organizations recover from ransomware attacks.

Microsoft and Rubrik announced a strategic agreement this week that will see the two companies work together to combat ransomware. As part of the agreement, Microsoft will invest an undisclosed amount into Rubrik. While Neither company confirmed the financial details of the agreement, a source close to the situation told Bloomberg the value is in the low tens of millions. The same source also valued Rubrik at about $4 billion.

Rubrik calls itself the "Zero Trust Management Company." It provides recovery from ransomware by backing up data. Rubrik's services allow organizations to recover data rather than paying ransoms set by attackers.

"Rubrik is addressing the most pressing data challenges for enterprises: rapid recovery from ransomware, automation of data operations, and the transition of data to the cloud," said Rubrik in its announcement. "The Rubrik and Microsoft collaboration brings these offerings to the next level, providing Zero Trust data protection for hybrid cloud environments spanning data center, edge and cloud, including Microsoft 365."

Both Microsoft and Rubrik will sell software based on Microsoft's Azure cloud. The software can prevent and find ransomware attacks. It can also help organizations recover from attacks by backing up data in a secured way.

"As the pioneer of Zero Trust Data Management, Rubrik is helping the world's leading organizations manage their data and recover from ransomware," said Bipul Sinha, co-founder and CEO of Rubrik. "Together with Microsoft, we are delivering tightly integrated data protection while accelerating and simplifying our customer's journey to the cloud."

Microsoft's corporate vice president of Global Partner Solutions, Nick Parker, also discussed the agreement. "Customers, across industries, are migrating to the cloud to drive business transformation and realize growth," said Parker. "End-to-end application and data management is critical to business success, and we believe that integrating Rubrik's Zero Trust Data Management solutions with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 will make it easy for customers to advance their Zero Trust journey and increase their digital resilience."

Rubrik and Microsoft share over 2,000 mutual customers and hundreds of petabytes of data under Azure management spanning six continents.