Backups Don't REALLY Protect You From RANSOMWARE! What To Do Next

August 31, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 2017, a city in Alabama ignored a warning from KrebsOnSecurity that its data was being discussed on the dark web. Two weeks later, the IT director clicked a DHL email, and the entire city was encrypted with ransomware. Police calls were rerouted to the county. Employees weren't paid. After 30 days, they paid $330,000. The same malware had already spread to a packaging company across town called Alliance Packaging. That company called its MSP, which arrived in 20 minutes, cleaned the threat, and restored operations. Business as usual. One paid. One didn't. The difference was not luck.

The gap between backups and recovery

Most business leaders assume that having backups means they are protected. The panel — David D. Morrow (VP at NetGain Technologies and FBI InfraGard member), senior engineer Tyler Bowman, and Matt Scully (subject matter expert at Casaya Dato) — argued that this assumption is the real danger. The conversation that needs to happen is not about backups. It is about business continuity, which is a much broader concept.

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What you'll learn

1 (04:40) **Opening & Defining the Real Problem** - Host David Morrow introduces the session's core argument: having backups is not the same as being able to recover.
2 (06:14) **RPO vs. RTO: The Critical Conversation Leaders Avoid** - Matt Scully argues that backup is just a component; the real need is business continuity, which must be understood by the CFO, not just IT.
3 (09:54) **The "Cheap IT" Excuse is Dead** - Matt Scully debunks the myth that enterprise-grade business continuity is unaffordable for small businesses.
4 (13:11) **Backups vs. Disaster Recovery: The Dangerous Assumption** - David Morrow clarifies the significant difference between having a backup file and having a full disaster recovery plan.
5 (15:06) **The Biggest Gap: Untested Assumptions & Blind Trust** - Tyler Bowman reveals that the most common finding when he walks into a company is a total lack of testing and a culture of blind trust.
6 (17:07) **Backup is 10 Cents to the Business Continuity Dollar** - Matt Scully reinforces that backup is just a small piece of the larger business continuity puzzle.
7 (20:36) **Case Study: The City That Paid vs. The Company That Didn't** - Matt Scully tells the story of the City of Florence, Alabama, and Alliance Packaging to illustrate the difference a real plan makes.

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Show Notes

Discover the limitations of backup plans in disaster recovery and learn why they may not be enough to ensure business continuity. Explore the importance of having a comprehensive recovery strategy that goes beyond just backups. Understand the risks and consequences of relying solely on backup plans and find out what you can do to improve your organization's resilience.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome: Why Having Backups Is Not the Same as Being Recovered
02:00 RPO vs RTO Explained: How Much Data Loss Can Your Business Survive
04:50 The Real Cost of Cheap IT and Why the CFO Needs to Be in This Conversation
06:45 Backup vs Business Continuity: What Leaders Are Actually Paying For
09:00 The Gap Nobody Talks About: Blind Trust and Untested Backups
11:30 Ransomware Is Organized Crime: Profit Sharing, Shift Changes, and Dark Web Toolkits
14:00 City of Florence Alabama: How a $330,000 Ransom Unfolded Step by Step
18:00 Same Attack, Different Outcome: Why the Packaging Company Paid Nothing
19:30 Immutable Backups Explained: What Happens When Hackers Target Your Backups First
22:00 Questions Every Leader Should Ask Their IT Provider About Backup Hardening
24:30 AI Has Changed Phishing Forever: Why Old Security Training No Longer Works
26:00 Cloud Disaster Recovery in Practice: The Tire Company That Burned to the Ground
29:00 WannaCry, Local Hospitals, and the Ransomware Stories Nobody Publicizes
32:00 Healthcare on Paper: When Systems Go Down and Nobody Knows the Old Way
35:00 What Downtime Actually Costs: Lost Revenue, Idle Staff, Lawsuits, and Reputation
39:00 Your 90-Day Recovery Readiness Plan: Assessment, Testing, and Documentation
41:30 The Mindset Shift: Making Your IT Provider Part of Your Business Strategy

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