Not sure if that AV is even supported with Veeam.  Check here for how the AV process works and configurations - Antivirus Configuration File - User Guide for VMware vSphere (veeam.com)

Any AV is supported as you can write your definition file on your own. The once we liste in the definiton file ourselves are just the ones we tested in QA. I will keep you posted on Cortex XDR

Thanks for clarifying this.  Looking forward to the results.

After discussing the issue further with my colleague who is responsible for our AV we came to the conclusion that it might be better to use Defender (or other classical AV solutions) for these scans, since Cortex XDR is a behavioral scanner and might not be the best solution for pure file scanning.

We ended up editing the AV definition XML file on the mount server to change the IsPortableSoftware='false' of the Defender entry to IsPortableSoftware='true', so Veeam ignores the disabled state of the Defender service. Now Veeam is utilizing Windows Defender for SureBackup and Secure Restore while Cortex keeps scanning for behavioral anomalies in the background.

Still, if other people are using Cortex XDR I’d be interested in their opinions on this matter.

Glad you were able to come to a resolution on this one.  I am still interested as well in hearing about the Cortex XDR solution just for my own learning. 

I appreciate you marking your own response as the answer as that’s very insightful for all.  I haven’t ventured too much into this integration, but I hadn’t considered the difference of an XDR vs antivirus/antimalware engine in this scenario.