Rubrik appoints former Zscaler VP to head up UK and Ireland

Toby Keech will lead the go-to-market sales strategy as Rubrik eyes growth in the region

Zero trust data security vendor Rubrik has named Toby Keech as its new vice president for the UK and Ireland.

Keech will focus on expanding the company's data security leadership across the region, further developing the company's sales strategy and go-to-market function.

He joins Rubrik from Zscaler and brings over two decades of technology and cybersecurity sales leadership experience to this role.

At Zscaler Keech spent the last four years leading its UK&I and MEA business units.

Prior to this he held senior sales roles at a number of technology businesses, supporting these organisations through acquisitions by the likes of NetApp and HP.

"Ransomware continues to threaten the UK&I economy. Attack surfaces are expanding, and organisations are sitting on a growing ocean of data that needs to be secured," said Keech.

"There's a real demand and need for Rubrik's industry-leading technology. Being a part of Rubrik's prominent leadership team at this time was an opportunity I could not turn down."

A growing threat

Keech's appointment comes on the heels of a new study by Rubrik Zero Labs which highlighted the extent of the global ransomware challenge, with nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) of organisations reporting paying ransom, while only 16 per cent recovered all data after paying up.

"A typical organisation has nearly 25 million sensitive data records. And, if you consider the average growth of data in 2022, that will increase by at least 25 per cent before this year's out," said Dean Yates, VP Western and Southern Europe, Rubrik.

"That data is now constantly under attack and IT and security leaders have to be right every time, whereas cybercriminals need only hit the jackpot once.

"That's why it's so important to have experienced industry figures within our leadership team to continue tackling this issue for our customers."

The new appointment also follows a recent update to Rubrik's partner programme which introduced a points-based scoring system to recognise its top-performing partners, regardless of their size.