We Are Living in the Future—and It’s Awesome!
Sebastian Straub on AI, Quantum, and the Future of Cyber Recovery
If you know N2W, you know Sebastian Straub—our Principal Solutions Architect, long-time IT magician, and resident expert in security, disaster recovery, and all things cloud. With 20+ years of experience and regular contributions to publications on quantum strategy, ransomware defense, and multi-cloud resilience, Sebastian is often the one quietly steering the big conversations behind the curtain.
At Ditch the Drama, Sebastian took center stage to deliver one of the most electrifying talks of the event: “We Are Living in the Future—and It’s Awesome!”
His message? The future is here. It’s fast. It’s powerful. And it’s not waiting for anyone to catch up.
Quantum Computing Is Closer Than You Think
Sebastian dove straight into the next big disruptor: quantum computing. While it still sounds futuristic to many, quantum is already starting to shape real-world decisions in security and infrastructure.
In August 2024, AWS rolled out a post-quantum encryption algorithm, and now cloud giants like Google and AWS are embedding quantum-safe cryptography into their platforms. Why? Because attackers are already harvesting encrypted data today, planning to decrypt it later when quantum power becomes widely accessible.
Governments are catching on—the UK is mandating all critical infrastructure be quantum-safe by 2035. That shift is starting now. If your infrastructure isn’t quantum-ready, you’re already behind.
AI, Social Engineering, and a Billion-Dollar Breach
Sebastian highlighted a very real cautionary tale: the Marks & Spencer cyberattack. In 2025, they suffered a devastating breach through simple social engineering tactics. No malware wizardry—just AI-powered voice cloning and a phone call to reset a password. It took out card payments for weeks, and cost them over $1 billion in brand damage.
Their mistake? No real continuity plan. Legacy thinking. They prepared for burst pipes, not digital breakdowns.
In 2025, recovery isn’t just about spinning up a server. It’s about restoring entire applications, multi-cloud environments, identity policies, and security layers. If your recovery plan doesn’t factor in full-stack restoration, you’re not really ready.
“Not If, But When”: Why Backups Aren’t Enough
One of Sebastian’s biggest warnings? You can’t assume your backups are clean or even usable. Most companies don’t test them. And when something goes down—especially at scale—untested backups become drama.
The solution?
- Automate backup tagging on all cloud resources
- Test failover and recovery regularly—not just once a year
- Isolate backups in separate clouds or accounts
- Build for cross-cloud failover, not just cross-region
- Think beyond servers—restore the full environment, networks and all
It’s no longer your grandpa’s backup strategy. It’s 2025—and attackers are using AI polished by quantum accelerators. Your recovery plan needs to be smarter, faster, and more automated than ever.
The Arms Race: AI vs. AI
Will AI help stop social engineering? Maybe. But Sebastian was candid: AI is on both sides now.
Attackers use it to mimic voices, automate phishing, and impersonate leadership in real-time video calls. Defenders use it to spot anomalies, automate responses, and trigger cleanroom recovery environments.
We’re in a cloud arms race, and success comes down to preparation. You can’t predict the breach—but you can plan the bounce back.
Watch Sebastian’s full session:
Ditch the Drama—Backup Like It’s the Future with N2W
Sebastian’s keynote reinforced everything Ditch the Drama is about: making cloud protection proactive, not reactive.
That’s why N2W is pushing the boundaries with backup automation, cross-cloud recovery, and enterprise-ready data resilience.
We’re living in the future—and the best defense is a backup plan that actually works.
Try the new N2W free today—and ditch the drama for good.
