This episode features Drew Russell, Identity Resilience Platform Owner at Rubrik. Jim McDonald and Jeff Steadman explore the intersection of backup, recovery, and identity security. Drew explains how Rubrik evolved from data backup into a cyber resilience platform with identity as a core pillar. Topics include recovering Active Directory, Okta, and Entra ID after ransomware, Rubrik's "bunker in a box" appliance for immutable air-gapped recovery, proactive posture management, CrowdStrike and Defender integrations, and where AI and non-human identities fit into Rubrik's roadmap. The episode wraps with measuring success for a product you hope to never use, and a detour into watch collecting.
This episode was made possible by the support of Rubrik. Learn more at rubrik.com/idac
Connect with Drew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-russell-3762411b/
Learn more about Rubrik: https://www.rubrik.com/idac
Connect with us on LinkedIn:
Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/
Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/
Visit the show on the web at idacpodcast.com
TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 - Welcome and Introduction
00:01:19 - Introducing Drew Russell
00:01:36 - How Drew Got Into Identity
00:02:43 - What Is Rubrik and What Sets It Apart
00:03:38 - From Backup to Cyber Resilience
00:05:31 - Where Rubrik Fits in the IAM Landscape
00:07:08 - Rubrik's Scale: Clients and Growth
00:07:51 - Primary Use Cases: Post-Incident Recovery and AD
00:09:09 - Kicking Out Compromised Accounts and ADR
00:10:11 - Proactive Threat Detection and Mandiant Integration
00:11:28 - Scanning Backups to Find the Clean Recovery Point
00:12:14 - The Bunker in a Box Explained
00:13:18 - Posture Management and Upstream Tool Integration
00:14:19 - AI Agent Swarms and the Future Attack Surface
00:15:37 - The Taiwan Bank Case Study: Six Weeks to Rebuild AD
00:17:16 - The State of Nevada Incident: $400K and 30 Days
00:17:56 - What Recovery Covers: AD, Okta, and Entra ID
00:19:26 - Post-Restore Change Management and Whitelisting
00:20:08 - How Long Should You Store Backups?
00:21:19 - Indexing Identity for Intelligent Recovery Points
00:22:29 - Excluding Malicious Actions During Restore
00:24:41 - Zero Trust for Rubrik's Own Backups
00:26:21 - No Windows, No Virtualization Architecture
00:27:49 - Proactive Posture Management
00:29:00 - CrowdStrike and Defender Real-Time Integration
00:30:48 - Why Tabletop Exercises Often Fall Short
00:31:53 - AI Roadmap and Non-Human Identities
00:34:22 - The Three Pillars: Data, Identity, and AI
00:35:29 - Deployment: SaaS vs. On-Prem
00:38:37 - Appliance Sizing and Redundancy
00:42:23 - Measuring Success for a Product You Hope to Never Use
00:43:46 - The Ludacris Rubrik Commercial
00:45:31 - Watch Collecting and the Omega Speedmaster
00:53:39 - Drew's Closing Words
KEYWORDS
Identity at the Center, IDAC, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Rubrik, Drew Russell, identity resilience, cyber resilience, Active Directory recovery, AD backup, Okta recovery, Entra ID recovery, identity backup, ITDR, ISPM, non-human identity, NHI, agentic AI, ransomware recovery, bunker in a box, immutable backup, CrowdStrike integration, Microsoft Defender integration, Mandiant integration, identity disaster recovery, ADR, zero trust, tabletop exercises, posture management, IAM, identity security podcast, cybersecurity podcast
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