When Ransomware Hits: Building a Recovery Plan That Actually Works

You've got firewalls. You've got endpoint detection. But when ransomware locks your agency's data at 2 AM, how fast can you actually get back on your feet?

In this episode, Rick from DALY sits down with Marlin McVay, Public Sector CTO and CISO at Cohesity, to break down why cyber resilience isn't the same as cybersecurity—and why treating recovery as an afterthought is a recipe for disaster. Marlin explains why security teams and infrastructure teams often don't talk until it's too late, shares the sobering stat that puts your odds of a ransomware attack at two in three, and reveals why some agencies end up in a "death loop" of recovering and re-detonating over a dozen times before they realize what's going wrong.

Plus: why tabletop exercises are like D&D campaigns (helpful, but not the real thing), zero trust principles for your backup environment, and what a true cyber resilience maturity model looks like.

Key Topics:

• Cyber security vs. cyber resilience—the critical distinction
• Breaking down silos between IT infrastructure and security teams
• Zero trust capabilities for backup and recovery systems
• Why practice beats planning when the worst happens
• Cohesity's unified approach to data protection

Guest: Marlin McVay, Public Sector CTO & CISO, Cohesity