Cyberattacks are inevitable, so use AI in your defense, says Rubrik co-founder

In today’s fast-paced technology landscape, AI presents a monumental opportunity for economic transformation. Bipul Sinha, Chairman and Co-Founder of Rubrik, says AI is more than a trend; It has the potential to revolutionize industries, especially in countries like India. “India could move directly from an industrial era to a service economy and eventually to an artificial intelligence economy,” he said.

While this transition may bring turmoil, it also opens doors to success. Embracing AI-driven disruption could be instrumental for India to improve its global economic position.

Rubrik, a leader in cybersecurity, is actively addressing the challenges posed by AI disruptions, particularly in cyber resilience. Sinha criticizes traditional cybersecurity methods, which aim to prevent attacks, a futile effort in the current environment. “You can’t stop the unstoppable,” he said. Instead, Rubrik’s strategy focuses on allowing businesses to operate during attacks, whether they are hospitals, banks or schools. Their approach uses AI not only defensively but also proactively to ensure operational continuity.

For more than a decade, Rubrik has leveraged machine learning to combat evolving threats and is now integrating generative AI to improve its cybersecurity solutions. As cyberattacks become more sophisticated, companies must abandon outdated defense methods. Sinha urges companies to prioritize cyber resilience by transforming legacy systems into robust data security platforms capable of resisting breaches. “Having higher walls and wider moats will not prevent attacks,” he warned. The challenge lies in “fighting fire with fire,” using AI to counter AI-driven threats. Because the stakes are high, businesses risk losing digital trust if they do not maintain services during an attack.

Excerpt from the conversation:

Q: Everyone is talking about AI being the great opportunity, the great equalizer, there are also conversations about disruption and what it will mean for jobs. How do you see what AI means to you at Rubrik, what AI means to the industry, but also what AI means to customers, to consumers like me?

Sinha: If you look at India, AI could be a big opportunity for the country because it could move from the entire industrial era to a service and, followed by the service, to an AI economy. It will be disruptive and create a lot of upheaval, but it is in the upheaval that success will be created. And in my opinion, India has this opportunity to take advantage of this change, this chaos, this upheaval to really leap forward.

Q: Please explain to everyone what exactly Rubrik does in the area of ​​cybersecurity and cyber resilience. What is that great differentiator that you have that differentiates you from your competitors, from your peers?

Sinha: Rubrik is a cybersecurity company and our fundamental thinking was that the cybersecurity company is poorly positioned because it is focused on stopping attacks. You can’t stop the unstoppable. Some attacks will occur. So how do you ensure that banks continue to distribute money? (That) hospitals stay open and children can go to university or school because they want to keep the service running? That’s what Rubrik does: we offer cyber resilience so you can stay operational even when hit by cyber attacks like ransomware.

Bad actors use AI to attack. So we, as a cybersecurity industry, have to use AI to defend ourselves. And that’s what Rubrik focuses on. We’ve been doing AI for the last 10 years in terms of machine learning. Over the last few years, we’ve been building products based on generative AI to really lower the barrier.

Q: You said the attacks are not under your control, they are unstoppable, you just have to make sure you get stronger to deal with them. How are companies addressing this problem? How do companies face this challenge?

Sinha: Businesses are focused on making sure they have the technology to be able to keep their services up and running, which means you need to have a cyber resilience platform, you need to transform your legacy backup and recovery into a data security platform to be able to offer cyber recovery. And that is the answer. You can’t assume that just because you have higher walls and wider modes that attacks won’t come to you, but they will come to you because you have a motivated adversary sitting in countries where they go to the office every day thinking about how to attack and how to extract money from them. So as a company, you need to think about how to fight fire with fire, how to apply AI and the latest technology to be able to defend yourself and keep your services up and running. Otherwise, your digital confidence will erode.

Q: What do you think is the job of a CEO today?

Sinha: The CEO’s job is a unique pursuit of market transition. In my opinion, product market fit is dead. We live in an era of acceleration. It took Microsoft 25 years to become a household name. Facebook, it took two years. ChatGPT took three months. So things are changing so fast that if founders and CEOs are not vigilant and don’t have the ability to transform the company every year and disrupt themselves, it won’t exist as a company.

Q: How do you make decisions when you know things are changing so quickly?

Sinha: You have to take risks. People forget that just because you’ve created an asset, you can’t rest on your laurels because the market is changing in front of you. And the CEO’s most important task is to lead the market transition, rather than lag behind and play catch-up.

Q: So how much is tripe? How much of this is simply reading the tea leaves and connecting the dots? How do you decide what you think the market transition will be and what you should bet on?

Sinha: It’s as simple as thinking about the Bhagavad Gita. What does the Gita say? Forget your past and every day will be a new day. And discover from first principles why you are relevant today? So as a company, you need to do three things. Number one, the things that are working amplify it so much. Then the things that somehow work, make it work. And then the third thing is that the things that don’t exist today are going to create a risk portfolio so that the things that don’t exist today can create something in the next few years that somehow works.

Watch the attached video to see the full conversation.