Rubrik's recent Forward event highlighted a critical issue: the illusion of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) safety and the prevalent "SaaS data gap".
SaaS providers like Microsoft, Salesforce, and Google offer exceptional platforms designed for operational excellence. But their core design doesn't prioritize comprehensive data protection. This is where Rubrik steps in, complementing their strengths with purpose-built protection.
The Rubrik SaaS protection platform addresses these vulnerabilities, providing comprehensive safety across your SaaS environment through specialized protection tailored to each SaaS application's unique architecture. It includes immutable backups, air gapping, granular and prioritized recovery, and integrated identity system protection.
The Alarming Reality of Cyberattacks and Data Loss
Recent data from the Rubrik Zero Labs report underscores the urgent need for robust SaaS data protection:
Attacks are an Ongoing Reality: 90% of IT and security leaders reported experiencing a cyberattack within the last year, with 18% experiencing more than 25 attacks in the past year. That’s an average of one attack every other week.
Cloud Attacks are Increasing : In 2024, new and unattributed cloud intrusions increased by 26% compared to 2023. Valid account abuse was responsible for 35% of cloud-related incidents.
Ransomware Costs Real $$$: Of IT and security leaders who experienced a successful ransomware attack in 2024, 86% paid a ransom to recover data or stop the attack. A staggering 74% reported that threat actors were able to at least partially harm backup and recovery options and 35% stated threat actors were completely successful in harming these options.
More Attacks are Going Unnoticed: Malware-free activity accounted for 79% of detections in 2024, a significant rise from 40% in 2019. This indicates that adversaries are increasingly relying on identity theft and exploitation of trusted credentials rather than traditional malware.
Attackers are Moving Fast: The average breakout time for interactive eCrime intrusions fell to 48 minutes in 2024, down from 62 minutes in 2023, with the fastest breakout recorded at just 51 seconds. So defenders may have less than a minute to detect and respond before attackers establish deeper control.
The Critical Need for Specialized SaaS Protection
In the face of these troubling metrics, true SaaS safety requires you to compliment your SaaS applications with purpose-built data protection.
Rubrik solutions are tailored to the unique architecture of each SaaS application, whether it's Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, or Google Workspace. This approach protects data and the complete application context, allowing applications to function properly after recovery, not just exist as disconnected files.
Rubrik SaaS data protection offers multiple layers of defense to deliver comprehensive safety across your SaaS environment, including:
Immutable Backups: Rubrik's architecture creates immutable backups that cannot be deleted, modified, or encrypted by anyone—including administrators with valid credentials. This directly counters ransomware and insider threats that increasingly target backup systems.
Air Gapping: By air gapping your production environment and backup data, credential compromise in one environment does not affect the other. Even if an attacker gains admin access to your Microsoft 365 tenant, they cannot access your Rubrik-protected backups.
Minimal Data Loss: Rubrik ensures minimal data loss with sub-24-hour backup frequencies.
Granular and Prioritized Recovery: Rubrik enables precise granular recovery—from a single email to a specific Salesforce record—without disrupting operations. All metadata and permissions are preserved, eliminating days of manual reconstruction. Rubrik also offers prioritized recovery, a unique feature that allows IT teams to immediately restore high-priority data so key personnel can resume work while a broader recovery continues.
Integrated Identity System Protection: Rubrik uniquely addresses the critical intersection of SaaS applications and identity systems by protecting both Entra ID and on-premises Active Directory. This ensures recovery of both data and the identity infrastructure controlling data access. When identity systems are compromised, even perfectly protected data becomes inaccessible.
While Microsoft's native Active Directory force recovery involves over 20 manual steps per domain, Rubrik simplifies this with automated recovery that reduces downtime and prevents malware reintroduction. Additionally, Rubrik offers object comparison and attribute-level recovery, allowing specific changes to be restored without disrupting the entire identity infrastructure. This identity-based protection is crucial for comprehensive Microsoft 365 safety.
Rubrik Can Help Protect Your SaaS Data
Rubrik's approach is comprehensive yet frictionless, scaling to millions of users without additional administrative burden. Organizations like Payette have successfully fended off crippling ransomware attacks, getting critical systems back online in less than 24 hours with Rubrik.
Rubrik delivers this with a unified platform that ensures comprehensive data protection across Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and Google Workspace. For Microsoft 365 specifically, this means end-to-end cyber resilience through orchestrated identity recovery for Entra ID and Active Directory, automated risk mitigation for cyber posture with features like data classification at scale, data security policy automation, and data access governance.
Ask yourself: If a cyber incident occurred tomorrow, how quickly could you recover? What would be the cost to your business?
Watch the Rubrik Forward session on SaaS Data Protection on-demand to learn more about comprehensive SaaS data protection and how to secure your critical applications and data!