Analyst(s): Krista Case
Publication Date: April 3, 2025
Commvault has introduced Recovery Range in partnership with SimSpace – a high-fidelity cyber range designed to simulate real-world ransomware attacks and deliver full-spectrum cyber recovery training. Unlike traditional ranges focused on detection and containment, this platform enables users to experience compromised backups, execute recovery plans, and ultimately rebuild environments under realistic threat conditions, strengthening their resilience against cyber-attacks.
What is Covered in this Article:
- Commvault and SimSpace launch cyber recovery platform with high-fidelity simulations
- Emphasis on ransomware response and clean recovery from compromised backups
- Environment replicates real enterprise infrastructure, applications, and user behavior
- Integrates Commvault Cloud capabilities: Cleanroom Recovery, Air Gap Protect, Cloud Rewind
- Platform rollout to include RSA 2025 and over 50 customized roadshows
The News: On April 3, 2025, Commvault and SimSpace jointly launched Commvault Recovery Range, the industry’s first cyber range to pair realistic ransomware simulations with recovery-focused exercises. The offering enables enterprise security and IT teams to practice the full incident lifecycle in environments modeled on their own infrastructure.
The platform includes Commvault Cloud’s cyber recovery capabilities – Cleanroom Recovery, Cloud Rewind, and Air Gap Protect – allowing participants to test real-world response strategies and recover from simulated breaches. Unlike traditional cyber exercises focusing on stopping attacks, Recovery Range begins post-encryption, guiding teams through practical recovery even when data integrity is compromised.
Commvault Launches Cyber Recovery Range to Enable Real-World Recovery Practice
Analyst Take: The Commvault – SimSpace Recovery Range offering is designed to deliver a comprehensive ransomware recovery experience that replicates real production environments. It simulates realistic user behavior, malware movement, and compromised backup scenarios – as well as the ability to execute recovery using Commvault’s tools like Air Gap Protect, Cleanroom Recovery, and Cloud Rewind. Notably, the hands-on simulation goes beyond detection or containment by focusing on real-world business restoration.
Realistic, Production-Like Cyber Recovery Environments
The Recovery Range simulates full-scale enterprise infrastructure and digital operations, not just basic virtual machines (VMs). Participants encounter high-fidelity attacks, including lateral movement, privilege escalation, polymorphic malware, and encryption, alongside dynamic user activity – such as sending emails, logging in, and accessing applications. These behaviors are tailored by department, time of day, and workflow to reflect the participant’s actual business. Unlike lab-style setups, this platform integrates with existing cybersecurity tools, such as those from CrowdStrike or Palo Alto Networks, creating an operational replica.
Participants navigate failed restores, compromised backups, and malware-contaminated datasets to stress-test their ability to recover Active Directory from air-gapped storage or rebuild entire environments using Cloud Rewind. By bringing realism into every scenario, Commvault Recovery Range goes beyond traditional disaster recovery (DR) testing, enabling training that mirrors complex hybrid production networks. This enables teams to prepare for worst-case scenarios in an environment that accurately reflects their infrastructure – turning reactive recovery into a rehearsed, proven process.
Role-Based Exercises for Technical and Executive Stakeholders
The platform is designed for a broad audience – from IT practitioners who prefer infrastructure-as-code to CISOs, CIOs, and VPs of Cloud who require intuitive, drag-and-drop interfaces. Each session adapts to a participant’s persona and technical depth. All users are exposed to realistic, high-pressure failures, including scenarios where restoration attempts go wrong, forcing immediate critical decision-making.
Exercises simulate cascading attack effects across departments and workflows, ensuring participants can experience the full lifecycle of a breach. This model addresses the industry gap between detection/response and full business recovery, pushing teams beyond “stopping the bleeding” to truly get back to health. The result is deeper cross-functional readiness – where both decision-makers and frontline responders build the instinct and coordination needed to recover rapidly under pressure.
What to Watch:
- While annual tabletop drills remain important components of cyber-readiness, enterprises will increasingly integrate, and in fact prioritize, the ability to regularly test their ability to recover under real-world conditions. With this in mind, combining cyber-range and disaster recovery solutions will likely be a value-add to enterprises.
- In particular, the ability to mimic real user behavior and production workflows and simulate compromised restores or failed backup conditions will likely grow as a differentiator in large enterprise and federal deals.
- The involvement of personas outside of IT, given the ability to tailor simulations by department and workflow.
- Integration of existing customer security tools (e.g., CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks) within simulations as a buying criteria for production-grade cyber ranges.
See the complete press release on the launch of Commvault Recovery Range with SimSpace on the Commvault website.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Commvault Streamlines Active Directory Recovery
Commvault Q3 FY 2025: Subscription & Cloud Gains Fuel Strong ARR Growth
Cyber Resilience Boosted: Commvault & CrowdStrike
Author Information
With a focus on data security, protection, and management, Krista has a particular focus on how these strategies play out in multi-cloud environments. She brings approximately 15 years of experience providing research and advisory services and creating thought leadership content. Her vantage point spans technology and vendor portfolio developments; customer buying behavior trends; and vendor ecosystems, go-to-market positioning, and business models. Her work has appeared in major publications including eWeek, TechTarget and The Register.
Prior to joining The Futurum Group, Krista led the data protection practice for Evaluator Group and the data center practice of analyst firm Technology Business Research. She also created articles, product analyses, and blogs on all things storage and data protection and management for analyst firm Storage Switzerland and led market intelligence initiatives for media company TechTarget.
