Author: Rick Norgate

At this year’s Control24 summit, we had an exceptional session from Harpinder Powar (Field CTO at Rubrik) and Rich Cassidy (Field CISO at Rubrik). They covered a wide range of topics, from the rise of nation-state attacks and the persistence of cybercriminals in corporate systems, to the misconception that cloud providers are a safety net. But one topic that really stood out was their take on disaster recovery testing.

It’s an uncomfortable truth: annual disaster recovery (DR) tests just aren’t enough anymore.

The End of the Annual DR Test

Rich shared a familiar story from his experiences working in a large Financial Services business, where DR testing felt more like routine exercises than real-world preparations.

“We used to do an annual DR test… it would last a week, and we’d pass the test. But it was never clean, it was never as smooth as we wanted it to be.”

This hit home for many in the audience. In today’s world, where cyber attacks can strike at any time, the idea that an annual test is enough is dangerously outdated. As Harpinder put it,

“An annual DR test is not enough… it might give you a tick in the box, but it doesn’t translate into true resilience. What’s written on paper doesn’t matter unless you’ve tested it and proven it.”

Too many businesses treat DR as a compliance exercise, not a real strategy. They believe a once-a-year test is sufficient to protect against the ever-evolving threat landscape, but when the time comes to actually recover, those plans often fall apart.

Predatar’s Stance: Continuous Testing, Continuous Resilience

At Predatar, we’re 100% aligned with Rubrik on this. We believe that recovery is not just an annual exercise; it’s a continuous requirement. Our platform is built on this philosophy – automating recovery testing so that businesses aren’t left scrambling when disaster strikes.

Disasters, whether from cyber attacks or operational failures, don’t happen on a schedule. You can’t afford to wait until next year’s DR test to know if your systems are ready. Continuous resilience requires continuous testing.

As Harpinder pointed out in the session:

“It’s not always about recovering everything. In a cyber attack or any disruption, it’s often about recovering critical subsets of data and systems—those that keep your business running.”

This shift in mindset is essential for businesses today. Recovering everything isn’t always necessary or even possible, but ensuring that your critical services can come back online quickly is vital. That’s where Predatar’s automation comes in, we ensure that your critical systems are regularly tested, recovered into clean environments, and ready to go when you need them most.

The Illusion of Resilience

Rich also touched on something that resonates deeply with us at Predatar: the illusion of resilience. Many businesses have a misplaced sense of confidence, thinking they’re covered – when, in reality, they’re unprepared.

“It’s not just about having backups, it’s about making sure they work. Testing them regularly is the only way to ensure that when the worst happens, your business can get back on its feet quickly.”

This is the heart of the issue. Annual DR tests might look good on paper, but they don’t reflect the realities of modern cyber threats. What’s more, businesses that aren’t testing their recoveries regularly are leaving themselves exposed to massive risks.

The Predatar Promise: Resilience Through Automation

Predatar’s platform is designed to close this gap. We believe in continuous testing because resilience can’t be achieved with a yearly check-in. By automating recovery tests, we ensure that when disaster strikes, whether it’s a cyber attack, hardware failure, or human error, your business is ready.

To borrow from Rich’s metaphor, it’s like the Emperor’s with new clothes — many businesses are confidently marching forward, unaware that they’re dangerously exposed.

Don’t let an untested recovery plan leave you vulnerable when you need it most. mMake sure your resilience is real. Discover Predatar’s AI powered Recovery Assurance for Rubrik, Veeam, Cohestity & IBM Storage environments on our website.

Back in March 2024 as part of the R15: Honey Badger release, we took a significant step forward by adding Rubrik support to the Predatar platform. Since then, we’ve consistently rolled out new features every month to deepen user experience and bridge any gaps in resilience. Now, with the release of Predatar R17.1: Viper we’re excited to announce that Rubrik support has reached full parity with the IBM suite of backup products, along with several powerful enhancements that benefit all our users. This release aims to make recovery assurance management easier, smarter, and more secure, putting our end users in control like never before.

1. Complete Rubrik Feature Parity

With R17.1: Viper, we bring Rubrik users to feature parity with the full IBM backup suite, delivering a cohesive experience across backup products. This update unlocks advanced functionality such as Cyber Grading, Anomaly Detection, Data Visualisation, and the AI-powered Recovery Risk Report. Together, these features give users a comprehensive overview of their resilience status.. The Recovery Risk Report stands out for its AI-driven analysis, which dives into users’ Rubrik environments to identify any resilience gaps, highlight deviations from best practices, and recommend tailored improvements. Through Data Explorer, users now get a single view of all their backup workloads, with insights on backup and recovery status, recovery confidence, cyber grading, and anomaly tracking. This unified experience allows Rubrik users to harness insights and confidently manage their entire backup ecosystem with fewer clicks and more visibility.

2. Aurora: AIOps Assistant

As previewed at the start of October at this years Control24 event, this release also introduces a new demo mode for the Aurora AIOps Assistant, giving users a hands-on preview of our AI-powered assistant designed to simplify backup resilience guidance. Aurora uses the data within your recovery environment augmented with a consolidated knowledge base that spans IBM SP, SPP, Rubrik, and Veeam, answering questions and providing clear, actionable insights without users needing any backup expertise. This makes it a game-changer for teams at any level. Users can now experience how Aurora provides on-demand answers to common backup questions, highlight issues and risks in your estate, while making it it easier than ever to resolve issues and keep data secure. It’s like having an on-call expert right within the platform.

3. CleanRoom^TM 3.0 Early Access

Again as previewed at Control24, CleanRoom^TM 3.0 has also made its way into R17.1: Viper through our early adopter programme, providing users and partners with an enhanced configuration process. The updated setup screens are streamlined to make deployment even quicker without compromising the robust security foundations the Predatar CleanRoom^TM is known for. Early adopters will enjoy a simplified, seamless experience, with the assurance that their critical data remains resilient and protected.

Predatar R17.1: Viper is packed with these updates to keep up with the evolving demands of modern recovery environments. Each feature in R17.1: Viper aligns with our commitment to simplifying resilience, empowering users, and ensuring that your data protection strategy stays ahead of the curve. You can check out more details on the release here.

At Control24, HPE’s Shariq Aqil and Sasha Acosta delivered a keynote that challenged the status quo. At Predatar we always strive to thinking differently, so this session was right up our street. It wasn’t just the content, but the refreshing perspective on recovery assurance that really stood out.

Some in the backup community might have felt uncomfortable with the discussion, which centred around the limitations of traditional backup – Particularly when it comes to speed of recovery. But for us, it was exactly the kind of forward-thinking conversation that needs to happen. It’s not about undermining backup, it’s about recognising the growing importance of answering the question, how fast can you recover?

The Challenge: Is Backup Being Dismissed?

“Customers are looking for new ways to recover their data and minimise data loss”

When Shariq Aqil stated this, it might have sounded like a challenge to traditional backup solutions, which, while reliable, can often take time to restore data after an incident. And yes, time is the issue. In high-risk situations like ransomware attacks, businesses can’t afford the luxury of waiting weeks to access their critical systems.

But let’s be clear. HPE isn’t dismissing backup. It’s a vital part of the cyber resilience toolkit. Instead, Shariq was pointing out that recovery speed has become a non-negotiable factor in today’s fast-paced, high-stakes environment.

The Reality: It’s About Recovery Assurance, Not Backup

Shariq’s message wasn’t that traditional backup is obsolete. What he was really saying is that recovery is the new battleground. Backup protects the data, but the real test comes when you need to restore it. That’s where tools like Zerto’s Continuous Data Protection (CDP) step in. Unlike traditional backup, which is typically done every 24 hours, CDP replicates data continuously, ensuring businesses can recover within minutes and lose only seconds of data.

As Sasha Acosta explained during the session,

“Leveraging traditional backup technology is very complex. There’s a lot of different steps involved, and getting that data back can take over four weeks, which today, is simply unacceptable.”

That’s not a slight against backup; it’s a recognition that in today’s climate, speed of recovery is just as important as having the data backed up in the first place.

The Bigger Picture: Recovery Assurance

At Predatar, we’re all about making sure that recovery isn’t just possible, but guaranteed. That’s why Predatar provides Recovery Assurance. Our focus is on giving businesses confidence that their data can be recovered quickly when it matters most.

Shariq made the importance of Recovery Assurance clear when he stated.

“We are very happy that we’ve got a great solution when it comes to Recovery Assurance from Predatar.”

This highlights our ongoing collaboration and commitment to delivering real-world solutions that balance protection with recovery speed.

So, Is HPE Being Controversial?

To some, it might have seemed like HPE was dismissing backup in favour of newer technologies, but the reality is much more nuanced. What they’re saying is that recovery speed is critical and businesses need to rethink their strategies in the face of modern cyber threats. It’s not about choosing between backup and recovery, but about ensuring you have the right mix to stay resilient.

At Predatar, we love these kinds of conversations – They challenge assumptions, drive the narrative forward, and ultimately helping businesses not just survive but thrive in a landscape where ransomware and other cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated.

Backup protects your data, but fast recovery saves your business. That’s the real message we took away from HPE’s session at Control24, and we couldn’t agree more.

To learn more about HPE’s Cyber Resilience Vault with Zerto and Predatar you can watch Shariq and Sasha session from Control24 on-demand now. The event recording is available here.

As the IBM TechXchange draws to a close and we wrap up another year in Vegas, it’s clear that the conversation around cyber resilience has evolved significantly over the last 12 months. Last year, the buzz was all about immutability, anomaly detection, XDR, SIEM and SOAR tools. These were seen and discussed as the front line in preventing, detecting and recovering from attacks.

Fast forward to this year, and while those tools and techniques are still very much front and centre, they’re being increasingly discussed alongside AI. The rise of AI-driven security and storage solutions has taken the spotlight, promising to revolutionise how we detect and respond to cyber threats. But amidst all the excitement, no one is really addressing the elephant in the room: the siloed nature of security and infrastructure teams.

Digging into the delegate analytics from TechXchange could provide some fascinating insights. Did security specialists stick to security sessions? Did infrastructure experts focus on storage? If that’s the case, it highlights the ongoing risk of keeping these two critical areas separate, even as AI creates new opportunities for better integration across systems.

And it’s not just security and infrastructure teams working in silos—within infrastructure itself, many teams are divided too. Most infrastructure departments have two or three backup products, with data scattered across different technologies, whether on-premise, in the cloud, or hybrid environments. Even these teams can be fragmented, and the lack of cohesion between them further widens the resilience gap.

The Real Opportunity: Breaking Down Silos

While AI is quite rightly grabbing headlines, breaking down the silos between security and infrastructure is arguably the the most impactful and cost-effective way to boost resilience. Bridging the gap between these teams can unlock massive benefits, enabling faster responses to threats and more robust recovery strategies. Yet, this important ‘fix’ isn’t being prioritised amongst businesses.

Here are three key actions companies should take to bridge this gap:

1. Ensure Security Teams Gain Insights into Storage Security teams need a clearer understanding of how storage environments work, particularly in backup and recovery. If they know what’s working and what needs improvement on the storage side, they can better tailor their strategies to safeguard critical data. Conversely, storage admins should be informed about security trends and threats to ensure their systems are robust against potential breaches.
   
2. Provide Consolidated Views Across Security and Storage A unified dashboard that brings together security and infrastructure insights is essential. Businesses should avoid the trap of isolated monitoring systems, which lead to disjointed decision-making. Instead, a consolidated view enables faster, more coordinated responses to threats, reducing the time it takes to detect and recover from cyber incidents.
   
3. Focus on Recovery as Much as Prevention Businesses have become hyper-focused on stopping attacks, often neglecting the importance of being prepared for recovery. The reality is that no system is 100% secure, so it’s crucial for companies to invest in backup and recovery strategies. Making recovery just as much of a priority as prevention helps ensure that when attacks do happen, businesses can bounce back swiftly and effectively.

This year’s TechXchange may have been dominated by AI, but the real challenge remains the organisational silos that limit resilience. Bridging the gap between security and infrastructure teams (and even within infrastructure itself) is an immediate, cost-effective solution that can transform how businesses protect and recover from cyber threats. Let’s hope that by next year, the industry will finally be talking about and addressing the elephant in the room.

To find out how the Predatar platform can boost your cyber resilience by tackling these 3 challenges, contact the team.

See you next year, hopefully with fewer silos and stronger defences!

There’s something about being here in Vegas, surrounded by all the tech buzz at IBM’s TechXchange, that makes you reflect on how much has changed. Over the years, we’ve seen tech hype after tech hype with technology like blockchain, Kubernetes, virtual reality all arriving with promises to change the world. And while they’ve found their place, none have truly become the centrepiece of business like they were supposed to.

Then there’s AI. Unlike the others, AI isn’t just making waves, it’s everywhere. Whether you’re talking about Apple and Samsung’s consumer AI baked into their latest handsets or the way we use it in Predatar, AI is in everything. The conversations happening around us in Vegas, the demos we’ve been seeing, it’s clear that AI isn’t going away. It’s not a passing trend, it’s the real deal. The rapid pace of adoption is almost unprecedented, especially compared to those other technologies that are still working to gain traction.

But here’s the kicker, not all of this hype is for the right reasons.

The AI Threat in Cybercrime

We’ve all heard how AI can solve problems and drive innovation, but it’s empowering cybercriminals too. The 2023 MGM cyberattack is a perfect example. It started with a basic social engineering tactic, a simple phone call to MGM’s helpdesk, where the attacker pretended to be an employee. With just a bit of publicly available information, they tricked the support team into handing over credentials. Once inside, they wreaked havoc on the business, shutting down casino floors, disrupting hotel services, and causing millions in losses.

Now imagine how AI can take these attacks to the next level. With freely available tools like ChatGPT, even an amateur attacker can craft professional, convincing phishing emails that bypass language barriers. Advanced AI can scrape personal data from social media, emails, and the web, allowing attackers to build detailed profiles on individuals, making social engineering attacks more personal and effective than ever before.

AI isn’t just a tool for business; it’s fast becoming a weapon for attackers. The ease with which cybercriminals can leverage AI to increase the scale, speed, and sophistication of their attacks is a warning sign. And businesses need to be ready for what’s coming.

Finding Real Value in AI

The message from Vegas is that AI is being presented as a powerful tool for tackling a wide range of challenges that range from boosting cyber resilience to improving operational efficiency. And many of the AI innovations on display have the potential to significantly impact businesses, especially as cyber threats evolve. The real challenge isn’t in finding value, it’s in prioritising which AI solutions will make the most sense for your business. With so many options, how do you choose which AI investments will deliver the greatest return?

Here are three ways to stay grounded when evaluating AI:

1. Start with the problem, not the solution: It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement, but AI needs to solve a real problem. Look at your biggest challenges, whether it’s bolstering security or automating processes and choose AI that directly addresses those issues. Don’t jump on the AI bandwagon just because it’s popular.
   
2. Understand your data: AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. Before adopting any AI tool, assess the quality and structure of your data. Without the right foundation, even the most impressive AI won’t deliver. The presentations at TechXchange do a great job of highlight AI’s potential, but data quality is what separates hype from results.
   
3. Think long-term: AI should empower your team, not just automate tasks. Look for tools that help your employees make better decisions and become more efficient over time. Sure, some AI solutions promise immediate results, but the real value comes when they grow with you, making your business stronger in the long run.

The truth is, AI is both an opportunity and a threat. The businesses that take the time to figure out how AI fits into their strategy will be the ones to truly benefit from it. So while it’s tempting to chase every AI unicorn, the smart move is to find the one that will actually work for you and leave the rest of the hype behind.

Last year, during the IBM TechXchange at the MGM in Las Vegas, the unthinkable happened, a mass cyber-attack brought the MGM’s operations to a halt. Slot machines went offline, hotel check-ins were reduced to pen and paper and queues for room keys stretched endlessly. Guests were left without TV, room service, or even working phones. It was a vivid reminder of how fragile our interconnected systems are.

As the Predatar team once again returns to Las Vegas for TechXchange 2024, it’s a good moment to reflect on the key lessons learned since that attack. Despite heightened awareness and increased investments, businesses are still missing some fundamental aspects of cyber resilience. Here are three critical areas where organisations, including many of the prospects we’ve spoken with, are still falling short.

1. Money Can’t Fix Human Error

Cybersecurity spending has surged over the past year. According to a report from Gartner, global cybersecurity spending is expected to reach $188 billion in 2024, up significantly from previous years. Yet, despite these investments, many attacks still succeed. MGM attack is a prime example. Reports suggest the breach was enabled through social engineering and the exploitation of stolen employee credentials. The Predatar platform has found malware hidden in backups in 74% of our clients. After investigation with the client we found that the vast majority of this malware got through because of human error.

Both these examples bring up a vital point: no matter how advanced the tools are, human error remains a major vulnerability. While companies spend heavily on technology, they often invest far less in educating their employees. Proper training on identifying phishing attempts, securing credentials, and following best practices could make a huge difference. But for many organisations, staff training is still treated as an afterthought.

Why does this happen? It’s easier for businesses to justify spending on shiny new tools than on something as intangible as staff education. Yet, the people in your organisation are often the first and last line of defence. Without proper training, even the best tech can’t protect you.

2. Silos Are Killing Resilience

A recurring theme we hear from hundreds of prospects each year is the disconnect between security and storage teams. While we don’t know the exact details of the MGM attack in this regard, many organisations are dealing with a similar problem: these teams operate in silos, with little coordination or communication.

This lack of integration makes it difficult to respond quickly and effectively to cyber incidents. Cyber resilience requires a unified approach where security and storage teams are aligned and able to collaborate seamlessly. Yet, in many businesses, the best you get is token integration.

What’s needed is a solution that brings these worlds together. A single pane of glass that allows security teams to monitor and manage all the various storage products in use, helping them understand each other’s environments, communicate better, and respond jointly to threats. Having these teams work off the same data, in real-time, is key to closing the gap that so often leads to recovery delays.

3. All Defence, No Recovery

While businesses are investing heavily in stopping attacks, they’re often neglecting an equally important part of the equation: resilience. It’s not just about preventing an attack, it’s about ensuring that, when the inevitable happens, you can recover quickly.

In MGM’s case, the recovery process was slow and painful, with systems offline for days. Many businesses still under-invest in their recovery plans, focusing more on building barriers than on what happens when those barriers are breached. This approach leaves them exposed to extended downtimes and revenue loss when a breach occurs.

Ensuring resilience means investing in solutions like immutable backups, automated recovery testing, backup scanning and tools that can protect and restore data even during an ongoing attack. Companies need to shift their thinking from merely preventing attacks to being able to recover from them efficiently.

What Needs to Change?

As we head into TechXchange 2024, it will be interesting to see how often these three key issues, human error, siloed teams, and a lack of resilience are addressed. Will the sessions focus on the bigger picture, or will they lean towards point solutions that only solve one part of the puzzle?

While the presenters, tech and tools on display will be impressive, the real value lies in addressing these broader challenges. Businesses need to bring their teams together, train their people, and build resilience into every aspect of their operations. Only then will they be truly prepared for the next inevitable attack.

One year on, MGM is still recovering not just from the technical fallout but from the reputational damage caused by the attack. It’s telling that this year’s IBM TechXchange is being held at Mandalay Bay, a shift that suggests the long-lasting impact of such a breach. The damage to a company’s reputation can linger long after systems are restored, a reminder that cybersecurity failures leave scars that take far longer to heal.

We’ll be in Vegas and would love to meet with you to discuss how to build true cyber resilience into your business. Reach out to book a meeting with us while we’re there.

The lines between consumer and enterprise technology are increasingly blurred. The devices and apps we use at home; seamless, intuitive, and fast are setting new standards for what we expect in the workplace. This phenomenon, known as the consumerisation of IT, is rapidly reshaping how businesses operate, driving a shift in user expectations that no organisation can afford to ignore.

Think about how effortlessly your home tech works. Whether it’s the instant response from a voice assistant or the fluid interface of your favourite app, these experiences have conditioned us to expect the same level of speed and simplicity in our professional tools. This shift in behaviour is pushing businesses to innovate at an unprecedented pace. Employees now demand that their work tools are just as user-friendly and efficient as the technology they use in their personal lives.

Meeting consumer-level expectations in enterprise tech

At Predatar, we recognise this shift and are committed to rising to the challenge. We understand that in a world where time is money, and data security is paramount, there’s no room for slow, clunky interfaces or outdated features. That’s why we’ve adopted an agile approach to development, with monthly releases that ensure our platform is always evolving to meet the needs of our users.

Listening to users: The Heart of our innovation

The consumerisation of IT isn’t just about speed; it’s about responsiveness. Just as consumers expect companies to listen to their feedback and improve their products, we believe that our users deserve the same level of attention. That’s why we prioritise user feedback in our development process. Each feature we release is shaped by the insights and experiences of those who use our platform every day.

A prime example of this is our Recovery Risk Report, which has undergone significant enhancements in Release R16.1 based on early user feedback. We’ve introduced detailed insights into outdated software and improved backup storage management, ensuring our users have the most accurate and actionable information at their fingertips.

R16.1: The latest step in our journey

Release R16.1 is a testament to our commitment to delivering consumer-grade experiences in the enterprise space. With optimised widget performance, expanded support for Rubrik delivers unified reporting for complex environments, and enhanced security insights, R16.1 is designed to meet the high expectations of today’s users. Widgets now load in seconds, ensuring that users can access critical information without delay, and our unified reporting features provide a seamless, single-pane-of-glass view across multiple vendors, essential for combating the increasingly sophisticated landscape of cybercrime.

Leading the future of enterprise IT

As the consumerisation of IT continues to shape the business world, Predatar is dedicated to staying ahead of the curve. We’re not just responding to these changes—we’re anticipating them. Our agile development cycle, commitment to user feedback, and focus on delivering fast, intuitive, and secure solutions are at the core of our mission to empower businesses in this new era.

With R16.1: Orca , we’re proud to demonstrate how we’re not just keeping up with the demands of modern IT we’re leading the way. As we continue to innovate and evolve, we’re excited to see how our users will benefit from the enhanced capabilities and seamless experience that our platform provides.

Check out R16.1: Orca here