When Ransomware Strikes, Will Your Backups Hold the Line? | A Brand Story with Sterling Wilson from Object First | An On Location RSAC Conference 2025 Brand Story

In today’s threat environment, it’s not enough to back up your data—you have to be able to trust that those backups will be there when you need them. That’s the message from Sterling Wilson, Field CTO at Object First, during his conversation at RSAC Conference 2025.

Object First is purpose-built for Veeam environments, offering out-of-the-box immutability (OOTBI) with a hardened, on-premises appliance. The goal is simple but critical: make backup security both powerful and practical. With backup credentials often doubling as access credentials for storage infrastructure, organizations expose themselves to unnecessary risk. Object First separates those duties by design, reducing the attack surface and protecting data even when attackers have admin credentials in hand.

Immutability as a Foundation—Not a Feature

The conversation highlights data from a recent ESG study showing that 81% of respondents recognize immutable object storage as the most secure way to protect backup data. True immutability means data cannot be modified or deleted until a set retention period expires—an essential safeguard when facing ransomware or insider threats. But Sterling emphasizes that immutability alone isn’t enough. Backup policies, storage access, and data workflows must be segmented and secured.

Zero Trust for Backup Infrastructure

Zero trust principles—verify explicitly, assume breach, enforce least privilege—have gained ground across networks and applications. But few organizations extend those principles into the backup layer. Object First applies zero trust directly to backup infrastructure through what they call zero trust data resilience. That includes verifying credentials at every step and ensuring backup jobs can’t alter storage configurations.

A Real-World Test: Marysville School District

When Marysville School District suffered a ransomware attack, nearly every system was compromised—except the Object First appliance. The attacker had administrative credentials, but couldn’t access or encrypt the immutable backups. Thanks to the secure design and separation of permissions, recovery was possible—demonstrating that trust in your backups can’t be assumed; it must be enforced by design.

Meeting Customers Where They Are

To support both partners and end customers, Object First now offers OOTBI through a consumption-based model. Whether organizations are managing remote offices or scaling their environments quickly, the new model provides flexibility without compromising security or simplicity.

Learn more about Object First: https://itspm.ag/object-first-2gjl

Note: This story contains promotional content. Learn more.

Guest: 

Sterling Wilson, Field CTO, Object First | https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterling-wilson/

Resources

Learn more and catch more stories from Object First: https://www.itspmagazine.com/directory/object-first

Learn more and catch more stories from RSA Conference 2025 coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/rsac25

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Keywords:

sean martin, sterling wilson, ransomware, immutability, backups, cybersecurity, zero trust, data protection, veeam, recovery, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, brand story podcast

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