Cohesity & Semperis launch identity resilience for AD security

Cohesity and Semperis have announced the launch of Cohesity Identity Resilience, a joint product designed to defend enterprise Microsoft Active Directory and related identity infrastructures against cyberattacks.

Rising threats to identity infrastructure

Microsoft Active Directory continues to serve as a mainstay within enterprise IT environments. Given its centrality in managing authentication and access to critical systems, it remains a primary target for cybercriminals. Research indicates that Active Directory is the focus of nine out of ten cyberattacks, with a recent study revealing that 93% of organisations in Australia and New Zealand that faced attacks in the past year suffered compromised identity infrastructure.

As businesses increasingly depend on digital platforms, securing identity systems becomes a necessary part of any cybersecurity strategy. Compromise of Active Directory can lead to unauthorised access, ransomware attacks, data breaches, and extensive operational disruption for enterprises worldwide.

New solution details

The newly launched Cohesity Identity Resilience, available through Cohesity and powered by Semperis technology, is positioned as a comprehensive solution targeting these specific security challenges. The offering is aimed at enabling businesses to harden their defences, ensure rapid recovery in case of breach, and conduct thorough forensic investigations after attacks.

The solution supports protection and recovery for Active Directory across hybrid IT environments. This includes both on-premises Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID in the cloud, ensuring that organisations can secure and recover the essential source of authority for synchronised identity objects within their operations.

Management perspectives

"Identity Security is one of the key battlegrounds of cyberattacks for enterprises and governments. They need solutions that combine prevention, resilience, and recovery without adding complexity to their existing cyber resilience strategy," said Sanjay Poonen, chief executive officer, Cohesity. "Cohesity Identity Resilience delivers a modern, proven approach that helps organisations protect the foundation of their digital operations, so they can recover quickly from even the most critical attacks on identity infrastructures and remain cyber resilient. We're excited to partner with Semperis on this effort."

Peter Hanna, Vice President of Partners, Asia Pacific, Japan & Greater China at Cohesity, emphasised the shifting threat landscape in the region. He noted, "Across the ANZ region, identity access is emerging as one of the fastest-growing threat vectors, as cyber criminals work relentlessly to exploit vulnerabilities in today's complex IT environments. This makes protecting foundational identity systems like Active Directory absolutely critical. With Cohesity Identity Resilience, we can now offer our partners and their customers a market defining solution that uniquely combines proactive protection, rapid recovery, and post-incident analysis."

Key features

Cohesity Identity Resilience incorporates a range of features to help organisations strengthen defences against identity-related threats. These include proactive Active Directory hardening, where environments are scanned for hundreds of indicators of exposure. The system also provides risk scoring, remediation guidance, and highlights possible attack paths to privileged assets. Secure, immutable backups are also a key element, with cyber vaulting capabilities for consistent backup and recovery workflows, and isolation of critical identity data.

The solution enables rapid recovery of Active Directory forests following cyber incidents, aiming to minimise downtime and potential business disruption. It also supports specialised forensic analysis and incident response to ensure that systems are cleansed of any attacker artefacts, restoring trust in compromised identity environments. Comprehensive post-breach analysis features provide rapid assessment and validation of system integrity before production systems are restored.

"Active Directory remains one of the most targeted assets in modern cyberattacks. Cohesity Identity Resilience, powered by Semperis, enables organisations to strengthen their resilience, ensuring they can withstand, respond to, and recover from identity-based threats with confidence,' said Gerry Sillars, Semperis, Vice President Asia Pacific & Japan.

Partner and customer perspectives

The partnership between Cohesity and Semperis began in 2024 and has now expanded with this new offering. Scott Harrison, Director, Hybrid Infrastructure Solutions at CDW, commented on the potential value for customers, stating, "Active Directory compromises often turn into prolonged business disruptions that are costly and difficult to contain. With Cohesity Identity Resilience, powered by Semperis, we see a solution that directly addresses this gap - helping enterprises strengthen defences, recover quickly, and maintain confidence in their core identity systems. It's the kind of capability our customers have been asking for, and it represents an important step forward in building true cyber resilience."

Market impact

The companies view this release as part of a broader trend towards convergence between identity security and data protection. Alongside strengthening the digital safety of enterprise and government IT environments, the solution is also expected to generate new revenue streams for partners in Australia and New Zealand.