Exclusive: Cohesity explains why cyber resilience beats prevention

When it comes to cyber threats, "prevention is no longer enough."

Those are the words of Brett Chase, Senior Director of Sales Engineering at Cohesity for the Australia and New Zealand region.

Speaking exclusively to TechDay during a recent interview, Chase warned that while many organisations continue to invest heavily in cyber prevention, they are neglecting a more urgent need - resilience.

"We're now dealing with a whole different challenge," he said. "Cyber attacks are not linear. They're not like someone deleting a file or a server going down. They're unpredictable, widespread, and often invisible until it's too late."

Having spent more than 25 years in the data management and security space, Chase has witnessed the industry's dramatic evolution - from traditional backup and recovery to today's complex cyber resilience strategies. His decision to join Cohesity after two decades with a legacy vendor was fuelled by that very shift.

"I could see a paradigm change coming," he explained. "Legacy vendors were anchored in the old ways. I questioned whether they could truly evolve to meet the demands of cyber resilience."

He believes Cohesity, with its modern AI-powered data management platform, is better placed to meet those demands.

Why traditional backups don't cut it anymore

According to Chase, the industry's tipping point began around 2015 - 2016, when high-profile cyber breaches highlighted the vulnerabilities of legacy backup systems.

"The backups were historically protected behind the IT department's walls, which made them seem secure. But attackers now target not just your primary data but your secondary data - the backups," he said.

In one real-world case, a company's immutable backups were left useless after attackers compromised the backup indexes and metadata.

"It's like walking into the Library of Congress blindfolded. The data's there, but you've got no way of finding it," he said.

It's a stark example of why modern cyber resilience must encompass more than just the data - it must secure the entire infrastructure.

Rethinking resilience

Chase emphasised that backup is no longer a linear restore process - it's part of a much wider recovery landscape.

"At Cohesity, we run ransomware resilience workshops. It's light-hearted, but the messaging is serious. We simulate real attacks based on actual incidents," he said.

These workshops reveal common oversights, like storing recovery plans in compromised systems or underestimating how long restoration can take.

"Backup and restore is just a tiny part of the incident response," he added. "A protected copy is no good if it takes you weeks or months to restore. Can your business survive that kind of delay?"

This consultative, scenario-based approach is now core to Cohesity's work with clients. "It's no longer about selling a product - it's about building a genuine partnership," he said.

Partnering for a stronger defence

Chase sees resilience as a "team sport", and Cohesity has formed tight partnerships across the security ecosystem to deliver holistic solutions.

From working alongside global firms like Cisco and Palo Alto Networks, to regional system integrators, the focus is on unifying their strengths.

"No one vendor can solve this alone. We're the leader in our space, but our power comes from how we integrate with others," he said.

He also noted how Cohesity bridges the gap between infrastructure teams and security teams, who have often worked in silos.

"We do a good job of getting those two camps talking. Security teams have historically focused on prevention, while infrastructure teams think about restoration. But today, both sides need to be on the same page."

Growth and opportunity

Since joining Cohesity nearly three years ago, Chase has seen rapid growth in the company's regional footprint - particularly as mid-market organisations begin to wake up to their cyber exposure.

"There's a huge opportunity in that mid to low enterprise segment. They're often still too focused on prevention," he said.

While larger enterprises have the budget and maturity to pivot toward resilience, smaller businesses are becoming soft targets for attackers - and more likely to pay ransoms.

"It's not just about money. It's about awareness. They need to start asking: if we get hit, how do we bounce back?"

Is ANZ lagging?

When asked whether Australia and New Zealand are lagging behind in cyber resilience, Chase offered a more nuanced take.

"I don't think we're behind, we're actually often ahead in terms of embracing technology," he said. "But that also makes us a bigger target. We're at the leading edge, but we've got to make sure our maturity levels match."

He pointed to regional differences, such as data centre design in North Asia, as valuable lessons for the local market. But the real threat, he said, lies in skills shortages - particularly as AI enters the cyber battlefield.

AI vs AI

Both attackers and defenders are increasingly using artificial intelligence to gain the upper hand. Chase doesn't find it surprising.

"Think of them as a business. An unethical one, sure, but they're using every tool they can to gain an advantage," he said.

And that includes AI.

"Ultimately, it might be our AI fighting their AI," he added. "But what fuels AI is data. That's why securing and managing data is more important than ever."

Chase believes the role of sales engineers, like his own, will continue to evolve. No longer just product experts, they're now trusted advisors guiding organisations through ever-changing threats.

"One of my top engineers regularly gets calls from customers - not about our product, but because they trust his opinion," he said. "That's where the role is heading."

And if AI is to reshape everything, as many predict, the one asset every organisation must prioritise is clear.

"Data will be the core. How we manage and protect it will define how well we handle what's coming."