C-Suite's New War Room: How Leaders Combat AI Threats and Lost Confidence

PALO ALTO, CA – January 15, 2026 – In an era where cyberattacks are a near-certainty and executive confidence in recovery is plummeting, a new kind of war room is emerging. It’s not in a fortified bunker, but in an exclusive, high-level community where the world’s top technology and security leaders are gathering to forge a new path forward. Security and AI operations company Rubrik has pulled back the curtain on its ‘CXO Visionaries,’ an initiative bringing together CIOs, CISOs, and CTOs from Fortune 500 and Enterprise 2000 firms to confront a shared crisis.

The move comes at a critical inflection point. The escalating sophistication and frequency of cyber threats, now supercharged by artificial intelligence, are outpacing traditional defense mechanisms, leaving boardrooms and IT departments scrambling for answers. This initiative signals a broader industry shift from isolated, reactive measures to a collaborative, proactive strategy driven from the very top of the enterprise.

A Crisis of Confidence

The urgency behind such a community is underscored by alarming industry data. Research from Rubrik Zero Labs, the company's cybersecurity research arm, paints a stark picture: a staggering 90% of IT and security leaders report their organization experienced a cyberattack in the last year. For nearly one in five of those organizations, the onslaught was relentless, involving more than 25 separate attacks.

This barrage is eroding the confidence of those tasked with protecting their organizations. According to the same research, the belief among leaders that their organization can fully recover from a major cyber incident within 12 hours has cratered, dropping from 43% in 2024 to a projected 28% in 2025. This precipitous decline highlights a growing gap between the threats enterprises face and their perceived ability to withstand them.

Fueling this anxiety is the rise of Agentic AI, which 58% of leaders believe will drive half or more of all cyberattacks in the coming year. This sentiment is echoed across the security landscape, with firms like Palo Alto Networks and Check Point predicting that AI will make cybercriminal activities more scalable, sophisticated, and dynamic.

“Today’s CXOs are operating at the intersection of security, privacy, compliance, and innovation — where decisions directly shape competitive advantage and trust,” said Kavitha Mariappan, Chief Transformation Officer at Rubrik, in the company’s announcement. “We are at a critical juncture that demands we move beyond remediation toward anticipatory innovation.”

The Power of a Trusted Peer Network

Faced with unprecedented challenges, executives are increasingly turning to each other. The vendor-led, exclusive community model, while not new, is gaining traction as a vital tool for C-suite leaders. These forums provide a trusted, sales-free space for sharing unfiltered insights, pressure-testing strategies, and learning from the real-world experiences of peers—a stark contrast to the polished presentations of a sales pitch.

Rubrik’s CXO Visionaries includes leaders from a diverse range of industries, including Adam Page, CSO of Zurich North America; Andrew Albrecht, CISO of Domino’s; and executives from PACCAR, Jefferson, and Renown Health. This diversity ensures that the challenges discussed are not confined to a single sector but represent a broad cross-section of the global economy.

“Cyber resilience is no longer just an IT responsibility — it’s a business requirement,” noted Adam Page of Zurich North America. “Being part of the CXO Visionaries community gives me access to peers who are facing the same realities, sharing what’s working, and pressure-testing strategies in real time. That perspective is invaluable.”

This focus on practical, actionable intelligence is paramount. Andrew Albrecht, the CISO of Domino's, has publicly highlighted the importance of foundational security, stating in a previous forum, "I could have unlimited amounts of technology in place. But if someone socially engineers our support desk to hand over admin passwords, that's the end of the game. That's why identity resilience is key." It is this type of ground-level, high-impact insight that such communities are designed to foster.

A Strategic Play in the AI Security Arms Race

While the CXO Visionaries community offers clear benefits to its members, it is also a shrewd strategic maneuver by Rubrik. By assembling the very leaders who make billion-dollar technology decisions, the company gains an invaluable, real-time focus group. This direct line to the C-suite provides unparalleled intelligence on emerging pain points, strategic priorities, and the real-world challenges of implementing technologies like AI.

This initiative aligns perfectly with Rubrik’s strategic pivot to position itself at the nexus of data resilience and AI operations. The company has moved aggressively into securing the enterprise AI lifecycle with offerings like its Rubrik Agent Cloud, designed to monitor and audit AI agent actions, and Ruby, an AI assistant built on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service to simplify threat response. The insights gleaned from the CXO Visionaries will directly inform the roadmap for these products, ensuring they address the most pressing needs of the market.

This model of executive engagement is a powerful tool for establishing thought leadership and competitive differentiation. In a crowded cybersecurity market, creating a platform that shapes the industry dialogue on critical issues like AI security and cyber resilience allows a vendor to transcend its role as a mere solutions provider and become a strategic partner. It helps Rubrik build influence and cement its role as a key enabler of what Mariappan calls “anticipatory innovation.”

The formation of such high-level alliances underscores a critical shift in corporate thinking: the battle for cyber resilience can no longer be won with technology alone. It requires a fusion of peer-driven insight, proactive strategy, and unwavering executive leadership, turning the C-suite itself into the first and most important line of defense against the complex threats of tomorrow.