In this session, Field CTOs Michael Cade and Emily Tellez dive into the practical application of Veeam’s four-pillar strategy, focusing heavily on the Understand phase. Central to this approach is the recent acquisition of a Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solution, now integrated as the Data Command Center. This tool acts as a "social network of data," utilizing a connector framework of over 350 integrations to inventory data systems across platforms like Microsoft 365, Kubernetes, and various cloud environments. By building a comprehensive map of data lineage and access, Veeam helps organizations identify sensitive information, uncover "God mode" privileges, and conduct ROT analysis to eliminate redundant, obsolete, and trivial data, thereby reducing the attack surface and storage costs.

Beyond visibility, the presentation highlights how this intelligence informs smarter backup and recovery workflows. The speakers emphasize that understanding data is the prerequisite for securing it, particularly in the face of agentic AI risks where data might be overshared or mismanaged by automated models. Veeam’s orchestration capabilities, which have evolved since 2018, allow for dynamic documentation and automated readiness checks to ensure compliance with Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO). This ensures that disaster recovery plans are not just static documents but living, tested processes that can transition workloads, such as moving VMware backups to Hyper-V or Azure, at scale while maintaining a clear audit trail for cyber insurance and regulatory requirements like GDPR.

The discussion concludes with a focus on clean recovery, addressing the critical need to prevent the re-infection of environments during restoration. Veeam integrates multiple layers of defense, including inline scanning for anomalies, indicator of compromise (IOC) detection, and the use of YARA rules or antivirus signatures. This process can occur at rest, during backup, or before restoration into isolated sandbox environments for forensic testing. By partnering with an ecosystem of over 60 security providers, such as CrowdStrike, Veeam ensures that if a threat is detected in production, the backup system is immediately informed. This holistic approach transforms backup from a black box into a proactive security asset that validates data integrity and operational resilience in a post-AI world.

Presented by Michael Cade, Field CTO, and Emilee Tellez, Field CTO. Recorded live at Tech Field Day Extra at RSAC 2026 in San Francisco on March 23, 2026. Watch the entire presentation at https://techfieldday.com/appearance/veeam-presents-at-tech-field-day-extra-at-rsac-2026/ or visit https://techfieldday.com/event/rsac2026/ or https://Veeam.com for more information.