Microsoft’s latest investment is good news for the ransomware fight

In a bid to reinforce its fight against ransomware, Microsoft has taken an equity stake in data management and backup firm Rubrik. 

The Palo Alto-based company will work with Microsoft to create new solutions built on Azure. The goal is to improve data protection and better protect customers from raging ransomware attacks.

Rubrik said in a press release that it will work on enabling “zero trust data protection”. Together, Rubrik and Microsoft “will provide Microsoft 365 and hybrid cloud data protection and integrated cloud services on Microsoft Azure,” the announcement states.

Commenting on the deal, Microsoft’s Vice President for Global Partner Solutions, Nick Parker, said Rubrik solutions will help Azure and Microsoft 365 teams simplify the customer journey towards zero trust and boost their digital resilience in the process.

The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Zero trust gaining groud

Zero trust is a cybersecurity model whereby no devices are trusted by default. Under this model, which is also sometimes called “perimeterless security”, devices on the network are never trusted, even if they are connected to a managed corporate network, or if they were verified previously.

Microsoft has been focusing on zero trust security architecture for quite some time now, ever since ransomware became as widespread and dangerous as it is today. 

In the past year, more than a third of all firms suffered a ransomware attack, analysts are saying. What’s more, ransom demands are rising, reaching seven-figure territory in some cases.

Today, quadruple-extortion attacks are not uncommon, in which criminal groups steal sensitive data, encrypt the entire network, DDoS the company’s front-end, and call the victims on the phone to further intimidate them into paying the ransom.