RSA CONFERENCE — Data protection providers Rubrik and Zscaler are partnering enable enhanced ransomware protection. The companies integrated Rubrik’s Sensitive Data Monitoring & Management SaaS-based data classification, discovering and reporting solution with the data loss prevention (DLP) technology in Zscaler’s data protection offering, which will be available to the two companies’ mutual customers.

Rubrik and Zscaler are announcing and demonstrating the new capability at the RSA Conference, starting Monday in San Francisco. The two companies have already completed the integration and will be available in the coming months.

Rubrik’s Anneka Gupta

“We’re combining Rubrik’s data-at-rest intelligence with data-in -otion security from Zscalar to develop a much more holistic solution,” Rubrik chief product officer Anneka Gupta told Channel Futures. “We’re integrating with Zscaler’s data loss prevention solution to enable smarter and more complete data loss prevention.

Specifically, Gupta explained that Zscaler is integrating the technology offered in Rubrik’s backup and recovery platform that detects and flags when sensitive data is moving in a suspicious manner.

“We’re augmenting their product to make it better,” she added. “It will be part of their highest license for how they go to market and sell their product.”

To take advantage of the enhanced detection capability, customers must have Rubrik’s Enterprise Edition license.

Expanded Focus on Ransomware Protection

Like most backup and recovery providers, Rubrik has invested in advanced ransomware protection technology to recover if an attacker locks a customer out of their operational systems. Last year, Rubrik partnered with Microsoft to support its Azure Sentinel SIEM solution. Rubrik also formed an alliance with Palo Alto Networks to integrate its SXOAR security orchestration technology.

“However, this partnership is really unique because this is truly the first-ever solution to really solve for double extortion, ransomware events,” Gupta said.

Double extortion ransomware attacks are when an attacker not only encrypts a customer’s data but also exfiltrates sensitive information and threatens to publish it.

Zscaler’s data protection platform uses AI and machine learning for data discovery using exact data match (EDM) and indexed document matching (IDM) technology to enforce policies accurately.

Integrating Rubrik’s data movement technology with Zscaler DLP monitors sensitive data stored in enterprise data centers and cloud and SaaS applications to ensure specific data protection policies are enforced to ensure against data exfiltration.

Gupta said identifying sensitive data spread across different silos has been difficult because each store must have its indexing infrastructure, which is CPU-intensive.

“By embedding Rubrik’s technology into Zscaler’s data protection solution, customers “can identify sensitive data that matters more easily and then use those systems insights to enforce data protection policies, without a lot of the complexity and the burden of taxing the production systems,” she said. “If you could enforce those data protection policies more effectively, that enables organizations to be able to prevent even more data loss.”

Gupta said Rubrik would emphasize the ransomware protection partnership at next month’s annual Rubrik Forward virtual conference.