HYCU, a SaaS data protection company, is launching aiR (AI Resilience), a new capability inside the HYCU R-Cloud platform.
The new capability turns backup data into a live intelligence layer for security, compliance, and risk teams.
AI Resilience solution leverages backup records to observe AI use
It takes the backup records organizations have of who accessed what, where sensitive data lives, what changed without authorization, and what AI agents touched data they shouldn’t have, and makes that record searchable in plain language and runs purpose-built agents across it for six specific use cases:
- Regulated data discovery
- Insider risk
- Configuration drift
- IAM posture
- Anomaly detection
- AI agent governance
“For two decades, security tools watched what happened inside applications and backup tools stored the record of it. The two never spoke,” said Simon Taylor, Founder and CEO, HYCU, Inc.
“That worked when data changed slowly, and humans were the only ones touching it. Neither is true anymore. Between SaaS sprawl and AI agents acting at machine speed, most companies can’t tell you what they have, let alone what changed in the last hour. Resilience now means knowing what you had, what changed, who changed it, what data was impacted, and recovering immediately. aiR delivers intelligence. R-Cloud delivers recovery. That’s what resilience looks like,” Taylor added.
Further, aiR helps close a gap with unprotected SaaS data by deriving insights from data the customer is already paying to collect. Customers can now pay to read the intelligence the platform has already captured.
“For most of its history, backup was insurance. You paid for it, hoped you never used it, and forgot the data was there. HYCU aiR represents the first credible attempt to treat backup as an operational intelligence asset, and the timing is right,” said Jerome Wendt, CEO and Principal Analyst, DCIG.
“Organizations find themselves drowning in SaaS tool sprawl and paying what amounts to an API tax to get visibility they should already have. HYCU aiR unlocks the value of the backup data they already maintain to answer governance, risk, and AI oversight questions and represents the kind of structural shift this category has needed for a decade,” Wendt continued.
Early partner and customer feedback points to quick wins and long-term strategic growth
According to HYCU, the response from design partners and channel partners has “been the strongest we’ve seen on any launch.”
Customers in the organization’s Early Adopter Program have surfaced regulated data exposures in SaaS applications they didn’t have visibility into before, and within the first week of access, in some cases.
HYCU says that a number of customers have asked if they can retire or downgrade adjacency point tools as a result.
Meanwhile, resell and GTM partners are reporting that the capability reframes the backup conversation from a renewal discussion into a security and compliance discussion, moving the buyer from infrastructure to the CISO and changes the deal size and deal velocity.
Filling a gap in the market and in customers’ environments
HYCU also states that they’re building the launch around a line customers keep giving to them: “nothing else fills this gap for us.”
aiR moves the company from “protect what others forget” to “protect everything, understand what you’re protecting, act on what you find.”
HYCU mentions that three things are shifting:
- The buyer changes: Backup admin to CISO, with finance and GRC at the table. Different budget, different urgency, and a different ceiling.
- The category changes: From SaaS data protection to AI resilience.
- The competitive set changes: HYCU has ceased competing only with backup vendors and started showing up in conversations alongside DSPM and security posture vendors, where the budgets are larger, and the urgency is higher.
HYCU expanding R-Shield solution
In the quest to continue delivering resilient data protection, HYCU expanded its R-Shield cyber resilience solution earlier this year.
The expansion has occurred through the integration of Halcyon’s advanced ransomware-prevention and data-exfiltration capabilities.
“True cyber resilience requires organizations to be ahead of threats at every stage, from early detection and active prevention through to fast, reliable recovery,” said Simon Taylor, Founder and CEO, HYCU.
“Our State of SaaS Resilience Survey found that nearly 80 percent of organizations experienced data loss or disruption in the past year, and more than half lacked confidence in their ability to recover quickly across all workloads. By integrating Halcyon’s prevention capabilities with R-Shield, we are delivering a single, more complete resilience model, one that gives customers the assurance that ransomware threats can be identified early, stopped wherever possible, and recovered from rapidly when they occur.”
The expanded solution will enable organizations to identify ransomware threats earlier, disrupt attacks before they spread, and recover quickly if, and when, incidents occur.”
Halcyon’s purpose-built anti-ransomware technology, combined with HYCU’s protection of the entire data estate, gives customers a more complete and unified approach to cyber resilience.
Opkey recently debuted a solution to address enterprise SaaS release fatigue, providing tailored insights, impact analysis, and testing plans for unique environments. Read more about the Release Advisor and how it helps IT teams and business leaders validate and capitalize on new innovations faster.