AWS re:Invent 2025 - How SoFi Achieved Agentless, Multi-Region Data Protection & Lower TCO (COP204)

Summary of AWS re:Invent 2025 Presentation: "How SoFi Achieved Agentless, Multi-Region Data Protection & Lower TCO"

Overview

• Presenters: Ron, Co-founder and CTO of Eon, and CJ Keefe, Director of Infrastructure DevOps and S at SoFi
• Key topics: Cloud infrastructure backup, data accessibility, cost optimization, and ransomware resilience

The Problem with Traditional Cloud Backups

• Limited visibility into backup status and policies
• Difficulty accessing and recovering data from backups
• Inefficient and costly backup storage due to incremental changes and API calls
• Lack of ransomware protection for managed and unmanaged databases

Eon's Approach: Transforming Backups into a Live Data Lake

• Storing backups in a readable, queryable format (e.g., Parquet, Avro) on object storage
• Indexing and cataloging backup data to enable search and analysis
• Leveraging language models to provide context and metadata about backup contents
• Calculating entropy and lineage to detect ransomware and enable data recovery

Key Benefits of Eon's Solution

1. Data Accessibility:

   • Live access to backup data without full restoration
   • Ability to run SQL queries directly on backup data
   • Searchable backup data using natural language and contextual metadata

2. Cost Optimization:

   • Reduced cloud infrastructure backup costs by up to 50%
   • Freeing up budget for AI and other value-driving initiatives

3. Ransomware Resilience:

   • Automatic detection of ransomware activities
   • Ability to recover data from previous clean backup states

4. Automated Backup Management:

   • Agentless backup discovery and policy management
   • Contextual backup policies based on data classification

SoFi's Experience with Eon

• Challenges before Eon:

  • Fragmented backups across multiple AWS regions
  • Manual backup policy management and retention
  • Difficulty accessing and recovering data from backups
  • Lack of ransomware protection for managed databases

• Benefits with Eon:

  • 20%+ cost savings on cloud infrastructure backup
  • Ability to roll out Eon across 5 AWS regions in 2 weeks
  • Automated backup policy management and data classification
  • Ransomware protection for managed and unmanaged databases
  • Improved compliance and self-service evidence generation

Future Plans for SoFi

• Integrating Eon's data analytics capabilities with security and compliance teams
• Automating compliance evidence generation and self-service reporting
• Expanding Eon's usage as SoFi continues to grow its cloud footprint

Conclusion

Eon's innovative approach to cloud infrastructure backup has enabled SoFi to achieve significant cost savings, improved data accessibility, and enhanced ransomware resilience. By transforming backups into a live data lake, Eon has unlocked new value and use cases for backup data, empowering organizations like SoFi to optimize their cloud operations and drive strategic initiatives.