2025-10-05 –, ENG 103
What do lost luggage, outdated maps, and the "I'M NOT TIRED" nap refusal have to do with cyber resiliency? Everything!
In this session, we’ll explore the most common — and costly — data protection worst practices through the lens of a family vacation gone horribly wrong. Attendees will leave equipped with clear, strategies to avoid their own data disaster stories.
Organizations often invest heavily in tools but underinvest in the everyday disciplines that determine whether they can actually recover when it counts. This session shifts the focus from products to practices—spotlighting the behaviors, decision patterns, and governance gaps that quietly erode resilience over time. We’ll explore how recovery readiness is built (or broken) through testing cadence, architecture choices, operational hygiene, and alignment with business risk.
Rather than dwelling on features, we’ll unpack the real-world dynamics that make recoveries succeed: confidence in data integrity, clarity on roles and escalation paths, separation of control planes, and measurable, business-aligned recovery objectives. You’ll leave with a practical lens for assessing your current posture, communicating risk in plain language, and prioritizing changes that actually move the needle.
To make the concepts sticky and easy to share, each theme is brought to life with a short, light-hearted “vacation disaster” analogy—quick stories that translate technical risk into memorable moments you can use with peers and executives. Expect pragmatic guidance, plain-English heuristics, and templates you can adapt—not theory or vendor fluff.
What You’ll Take Away
- A resilience mindset that emphasizes repeatable practices over individual tools
- A simple framework to evaluate recovery readiness across people, process, and architecture
- Practical guidance for testing strategies, validation standards, and documentation that holds up under pressure
- A conversation guide to align recovery objectives with business impact and executive expectations
- A prioritized checklist to identify near-term wins and longer-term investments
Chris is a Principal Systems Engineer at Veeam, where he helps organizations strengthen their data resilience and cyber resiliency strategies. With deep expertise in data protection, cloud technologies, and modern IT infrastructure, Chris has guided both commercial and enterprise customers—including senior leadership and C-level executives—through building strategies that safeguard critical data against evolving cyber threats.
Chris brings both technical authority and practical experience to his sessions. His presentations balance thought leadership with actionable insights, empowering audiences to adopt effective data protection strategies that not only meet today’s business needs but also prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.
Driven by a passion for education and enabling organizations to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals, Chris is a trusted voice on topics ranging from backup and recovery to cyber resiliency best practices.