Commvault & SimSpace launch cyber recovery training

Commvault and SimSpace have announced the launch of Commvault Recovery Range, a cyber recovery training programme that integrates realistic attack simulations with cyber recovery exercises.

Commvault Recovery Range is designed as a hands-on cyber range, enabling defenders to handle sophisticated cyber threats and real-world attacks while equipping them with recovery skills. This approach diverges from traditional cyber ranges by modelling exercises in an environment akin to the defender's actual production setting. The programme, developed using SimSpace's cyber range platform and Commvault's recovery offerings, allows practitioners to engage in the full incident lifecycle from detection through to recovery.

The importance of this type of training is underscored by statistics that indicate a ransomware attack occurs every 14 seconds, with an average outage of 24 days potentially costing companies millions in lost revenue, reputational damage, and operational disruption. This makes comprehensive preparation, from attack to recovery, vital for minimising downtime and maintaining business continuity.

Bill O'Connell, Chief Security Officer at Commvault, stated, "Together with SimSpace, we are offering companies something that's truly unique in the market – the physical, emotional, and psychological experience of a real-world cyberattack and the harrowing challenges often experienced in attempting to rapidly recover."

William "Hutch" Hutchison, CEO of SimSpace, explained, "In an era of relentless cyber threats, we created SimSpace to give security and IT professionals an authentic, hands-on understanding of how attacks unfold in the most realistic environments possible. Our partnership with Commvault takes the experience to the next level – by integrating the critical recovery component, we're delivering a complete cyber preparedness lifecycle that helps organizations minimize downtime and prevent devastating losses."

The programme features simulations that replicate an organisation's networks, allowing defenders to practice responding to complex attacks under realistic conditions. These exercises emphasise the need for validating backups, cleaning infected data, and executing rapid restoration using tools such as Commvault Cloud for threat scanning, Air Gap Protect, Cleanroom Recovery, and Cloud Rewind.

Roland Cloutier, Founder of The Business Protection Group and former Global Chief Security Officer at TikTok, remarked, "Creating muscle memory in cyber recovery operations requires more than a degree and years of experience. It takes continued practitioner-level training, where security and IT teams engage together in live-fire exercises. That's how you properly prepare, know you have the right technology in place, and create confidence in your teams' ability to recover. When a cyber incident occurs and time-to-recovery really matters, this training will be critical."

Michele Buschman, Chief Information Officer at American Pacific Mortgage, commented, "The Commvault Recovery Range will make a huge difference for our resiliency planning. The realistic attack scenarios and recovery drills will help instill a sense of confidence in our recovery process and in understanding exactly what we need to do to get back up and running quickly – essential to keeping our business running smoothly."

According to Phil Goodwin, Research Vice President at IDC, "IT teams can't prepare for a cyberattack with just a playbook any more than a football team can practice on just a chalk board. Teams need to practice under game conditions. This new Commvault Recovery Range puts cyber response teams into a realistic simulation where ITOps, SecOps, and line-of-business teams must work together – facing real-world attack scenarios requiring uncertain decisions while attempting to recover."

Krista Case, Research Director at Futurum Group, remarked, "For years, the industry has focused cyber range training primarily on threat detection and mitigation, often treating recovery as a separate, less-practiced discipline. The Commvault Recovery Range fundamentally closes that gap by uniquely bringing together SimSpace's realistic, high-fidelity attack simulation and Commvault's expertise in recovery."

The development of Commvault Recovery Range aims to assist companies in understanding their "minimum viability" - the critical components essential for an organisation to recover from a cyberattack. This training programme is expected to enhance organisational resilience and facilitate continuous business operations by providing a deeper understanding and skill set in recovery management.