Securing the Edge: How Merlin Cyber and Veeam Kasten Enable Federal Agencies to Protect and Restore Critical Data

In today’s demanding federal environment, immediate and secure access to data is essential as Federal IT leaders require radical resiliency. To address these requirements, Veeam Kasten employs a strategic framework centered on Zero Trust principles, military-grade compliance, and cloud-native architecture for cybersecurity, data protection, and operational continuity. Modern operations rely on a hybrid combination of on-premises, virtual, and cloud-native workloads, extending from forward-deployed data centers to remote and airborne locations. Within these complex and often contested environments, ensuring that actionable data remains consistently available, immutable, and recoverable—regardless of threat or location—is not merely recommended; it is imperative.

Kubernetes: An Important Milestone for Cloud-Native Federal Modernization

Like virtualization revolutionized hardware architectures and approaches, Kubernetes has helped redefine application architecture, the platforms that manage them, and their scale. For agencies advancing CJADC2 and other modernization goals, Kubernetes orchestrates containers and Virtual Machines (VMs) at the tactical edge, enabling real-time command, control, communications, computers, cyber-intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C5ISR), even in disconnected or contested environments.

But federal missions need more than orchestration; they need radical resilience.

That’s where Veeam Kasten stands apart.

Veeam Kasten: Five-Time Leader in Kubernetes Data Protection

Recognized five times as a Leader and Outperformer in the GigaOm Radar for Kubernetes Protection, Veeam Kasten delivers military-grade resilience engineered for federal requirements. With the release of version 8.0, agencies gain access to advanced capabilities:

• Enterprise-scale, modern virtualization: Seamlessly manage both containers and VMs
• Streamlined, secure data recovery: Speeding up restore times with file-level recovery for KubeVirt VMs helps agencies reduce downtime, support mission continuity, and enable the automation of backup, restore, and compliance reporting
• Policy Enforcement: Agencies can define and automatically enforce certificate policies related to key length, validity periods, and approved issuers, ensuring regulatory compliance and readiness for rapid cryptographic transitions.
• Effortless operations at scale: Enhanced policy management and dashboards simplify administration

Security and Compliance at the Core

Federal agencies face relentless cyberthreats and must comply with rigorous standards. According to Veeam’s 2025 From Risk to Resilience Report, nearly 9 in 10 organizations have had backup repositories targeted. Veeam Kasten is purpose-built for this landscape:

• FIPS 140-3 and ISO/IEC 27001 compliance: The industry’s first Kubernetes-native solution to achieve these certifications
• Zero Trust security model: Veeam Kasten’s Secure by Design approach implements a least-privilege approach — only essential tasks receive elevated permissions, minimizing attack surfaces and privilege escalation risks
• Advanced encryption and key management: Integrations with OIDC-compliant enterprise third-party applications ensure end-to-end security for mission data, even if hardware is lost or compromised
• Self-service, policy-driven restores: Empower teams to restore their data within defined policies, enabling rapid, standards-based recovery while reducing administrative overhead
• Automated compliance: Policy-driven workflows and reporting help agencies demonstrate compliance with NIST and other federal cybersecurity frameworks

Edge-to-Cloud Flexibility for Mission Mobility

Federal operations increasingly rely on edge deployments and disconnected devices. Veeam Kasten’s modular architecture supports agile, auto-scaling operations with cloud-native physical and virtualized infrastructure capabilities. Whether on the move or on pause, agencies can trust that their data remains secure, recoverable, and portable.

Freedom of Choice — and Confidence

Veeam’s commitment to flexibility means your agency can choose the best Kubernetes distributions for containers and/or KubeVirt VMs, database applications, security services, DevSecOps processes, storage infrastructure, and deployment models.

The following visual illustrates the insight into the Veeam Kasten Kubernetes Data Protection Ecosystem:

Available on Platform One Solutions Marketplace

Veeam Kasten is designated “Awardable” on the Platform One Marketplace and is available on IronBank. It meets the Federal Government’s stringent security and procurement standards. The software is also available via Veeam Kasten’s support site, which includes an SBOM.

Take the Next Step Toward Radical Resilience

Veeam helps Federal Agencies maintain mission readiness with the industry’s most reliable, simple, and secure data management platform. In a world where the pace and sophistication of threats are only increasing, Veeam Kasten empowers agencies to confidently protect, recover, and mobilize their data—anywhere, anytime.

Ready to take your agency’s data resilience to the next level? Fill out the form below to schedule a personalized Veeam Kasten demo.