Rubrik appoints former Palo Alto CEO to tackle 'urgent challenge' of cyberattacks

The vendor makes another key hire after past Microsoft chairman recently joined the group

Zero trust security specialist Rubrik has gained former Palo Alto Networks chairman and CEO Mark McLaughlin to its board of directors.

McLaughlin is a cybersecurity veteran with more than 25 years' experience leading companies, including Verisign.

He currently serves as chair of the board of directors for Qualcomm and will help support Rubrik as a leader in data security in his new role.

"Data security threats—especially ransomware—are some of the most profound and urgent challenges every CEO, board of directors, and cybersecurity leader must be prepared to face," said McLaughlin.

"Rubrik is working to change the trajectory of the cybersecurity industry with its mission to secure the world's data.

"Relying on Rubrik, governments and companies are able to deliver business resilience even in the face of the most sophisticated cyber events."

According to the vendor's recent Zero Labs State of Data Security report, IT and security leaders revealed their organisation experienced 47 cyberattacks in the past year—or nearly one attack every week.

With the frequency of cyberattacks unlikely to slow, organisations need a holistic cybersecurity strategy with the capacity to not only identify these events, but rapidly recover after an attack has taken place, the vendor said.

"Business is booming for cybercriminals. The modern bounty of data delivers big cash payouts and the power to take down companies and governments around the world," said Rubrik co-founder and CEO, Bipul Sinha.

"We're on a mission to help our customers secure their data assets. We believe we've never been better positioned to deliver on that mission than with a cybersecurity expert like Mark at our side."

Rubrik's channel hire frenzy

This latest hire comes hot on the heels of Rubrik's appointment of John W. Thompson, former Microsoft chairman and Symantec CEO, as the lead independent director of its board.

It also marks a year of notable executive and leadership appointments, including Arun Dharmalingam and Lisa Roberts has key EMEA channel hires.

The vendor also gained the likes of Chris Krebs, former director of the US cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency as Chair of Rubrik's CISO Advisory Board; and Ghazal Asif, formerly from Google, as VP of global partners and alliances.