Rubrik has hired former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Michael Mestrovich to serve as its own information security chief.
As Rubrik’s CISO, Mestrovich will lead the zero trust data security company’s internal data security efforts and leverage his background to strengthen its cyber security and cyber policy expertise.
Zero trust is a security framework that assumes every digital interaction is a security threat and only grants authenticated users the lowest level of access needed to execute a role. The framework is the opposite of the “trust but verify” model of access control that assumes good intent from users and is widely used by companies today. According to Rubrik, the zero trust model is gaining prominence as a defense against the growing number of ransomware attacks.
Mestrovich joins with a bevy of cybersecurity experience, and most recently served as the top cybersecurity official at the CIA. While working for the government, Mestrovich also served on a rotational detail as the Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Department of State. Before his public service career, Mestrovich, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was a systems engineer at Cisco.
In Rubrik’s hiring announcement, CEO Bipul Sinha called Mestrovich “one of the world’s most prominent security experts” and said, “Michael’s understanding of the changing cyber-landscape and exceptional leadership experience will be paramount for our federal, state, and local customers, as well as private companies who are preparing for inevitable cyber attacks.”
Sinha added: “It’s essential to combine expertise from both the private and public sectors if businesses and governments want to stand a chance against cyber criminals.”
Earlier this month, the company launched its Rubrik Security Cloud offering to secure customers’ data across enterprise, cloud and SaaS. It also unveiled the Data Security Command Center to allow its users to more easily assess the safety of their data and if it is capable of being recovered after a cyberattack.
“With increased vulnerabilities in existing infrastructure and legacy security solutions, organizations' most critical asset — data — is more vulnerable than ever,” said Mestrovich. “I made the decision to return to the private sector at this critical juncture to work with the company that is pioneering the next frontier in cyber security: data security.”
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