Background:
RKON has partnered with this regional auto insurance provider for several years, serving as a trusted advisor in
architecting robust backup and recovery strategies, as well as implementing disaster recovery and business continuity solutions. As cybersecurity threats continue to grow in sophistication, the insurance company recognized the need to go beyond traditional perimeter defenses.
THE CHALLENGE
At this leading insurance company, the IT Director recognized that true cyber resilience goes beyond perimeter defense. While many organizations focus on protecting systems from the outside in, this IT leader prioritized the integrity and recoverability of backup data as a critical final line of defense. By implementing a multi-layered security strategy, the company strengthened its ability to respond to and recover from potential threats—minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.
THE SOLUTION
While many security-focused solution integrators concentrate solely on the perimeter and endpoints, RKON— working in partnership with Elastio, an AI-powered platform that scans and verifies backups for hidden ransomware —delivered a comprehensive, end-to- end solution. This approach not only protects the company from all directions but also reflects a critical understanding: backup data is the final line of defense. By ensuring that backups are intact and free of ransomware or data corruption at the time of recovery, RKON and Elastio provide cyber resilience beyond traditional security boundaries.
RKON deployed Elastio within the insurance company’s on-premises VMware infrastructure, which is protected by Veeam, another one of RKON’s strategic partners. Elastio does not replace existing backup solutions like Veeam; rather, it enhances their capabilities by continuously validating that backup data is safe, clean, and recoverable when needed.
USE CASES:
1. Ransomware Detection in Backup Repositories
The insurance company needed to ensure their Veeam backups were not silently harboring ransomware. With Elastio deployed, backups are continuously scanned for ransomware signatures—giving the IT team early warning and the ability to isolate or remediate threats before initiating a restore.
2. Validating Backup Integrity Across VMware Workloads
Given the business-critical nature of their virtualized workloads, Elastio is used to validate that backup data within VMware environments is not only present but intact. This proactive check ensures data can be reliably restored, reducing the risk of discovering corruption during a crisis.
3. Enhancing Incident Response with Clean Recovery Points
In the event of a suspected breach or ransomware attack, the IT team can rely on Elastio to identify the most recent clean backup—helping reduce downtime, avoid reinfection, and recover faster with minimal data loss.
4. Confidence in Compliance-Driven Recovery Testing and Golden Image Validation
Operating in a regulated industry, the insurance company must regularly demonstrate backup recoverability. Elastio automates the validation of recovery points, supporting their compliance efforts by providing verifiable proof that data is clean and recoverable on demand.
The IT team also faced the ongoing challenge of managing multiple golden images for OS builds and ensuring they remained uncompromised when powered on for updates and patching. Golden image corruption is a growing concern for IT departments. The company was able to automate this process, maintaining confidence that golden images were consistently patched and verified as free from ransomware—greatly reducing risk during deployment cycles.
“We are now also using Elastio for our GoldEdge image processing, which was a huge headache previously. We now know that all of our images are clean when we put them on the network.”
“RKON, as our trusted advisor for security, has brought this game-changing technology to us, which allows us to have peace of mind that, in a worst-case scenario, we know that our backups are clean and we are able to restore operations to our business. This is just one of many tools in our arsenal. And with today’s security landscape, it’s imperative that we use every tool available to us. Thanks to RKON and Elastio, we are able to have this peace of mind.”
— IT Director, Auto Insurance Company
THE RESULTS
With Elastio’s technology and RKON’s guidance, the insurance company now benefits from:
- A comprehensive, layered data protection strategy
- Greater confidence in backup and recovery operations
- Enhanced resilience against ransomware and other threats
- Improved compliance and operational continuity
CONCLUSION
By combining RKON’s strategic expertise with Elastio’s innovative platform, this regional auto insurance company now operates with a stronger security posture and peace of mind. This partnership showcases how a proactive, inside-out approach to data protection can safeguard critical assets in an increasingly complex threat environment.
ABOUT RKON
Operating as a security-first IT advisory and cybersecurity firm since 1998, RKON partners with private equity and enterprise organizations to deliver end-to-end solutions—from strategy to execution to managed services. Our expertise lies in anticipating challenges, mitigating risks, and architecting custom IT solutions that enable businesses to innovate with confidence, adapt quickly, and operate seamlessly.
To do this, RKON provides IT solutions in three stages: first building an advisory practice that sends the strategy in the right direction; an execution practice that ensures the vision is turned into reality; and a management practice that keeps the vision on track as IT evolves to best serve the business.
Where other see challenge, we see opportunity.
