Members-Only Event
Thursday, July 23, 2026
11:00 a.m. Central Time
Presenter: Jeff Liford, Associate Director, Fenix24
Real-world incident response data shows a dangerous disconnect between assumed recovery times and actual cyber recovery outcomes. Most credit unions define their Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) based on natural disaster scenarios, power outages, storms, hardware failures, or data center disruptions. These plans assume backups remain intact and trustworthy. However, real-world incident response intelligence from Fenix24, the world’s leading Incident Response firm, tells a very different story: modern threat actors intentionally destroy, encrypt, or corrupt backup systems, rendering traditional disaster recovery assumptions invalid. The result is a massive and dangerous RTO gap, one that most credit unions are unaware of until it’s too late.
If your recovery strategy is built for floods and fires, but not attackers, you don’t have a cyber recovery plan. Backups alone are not recovery. And assumed RTOs do not survive real incidents. Recovery planning must change and credit unions must plan for destructive cyber events, assume backup compromise, use immutable backups, isolate credentials, and test real recovery.
Key Takeaways:
- Backups are no longer a safety net. Modern ransomware targets backup systems and credentials first.
- Cyber recovery ≠ disaster recovery. Cyber incidents corrupt trust (data, identities, backups), requiring rebuilds, not restores.
- The business impact is significant. Extended outages affect member access, regulatory posture, financial stability, and trust.
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About the Presenter:
Jeff Liford, Associate Director, Fenix24
Jeff Liford is an IT leader, educator, and cybersecurity resilience expert with more than 15 years of experience across the military, federal, and private sectors. Currently an Associate Director at Fenix24, he leads high-impact cyber incident recovery efforts and strategic process improvement initiatives.
A former U.S. Army Senior Intelligence Analyst and long-time Adjunct Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Jeff blends hands-on technical expertise with a passion for teaching. His work focuses on building resilient systems, mentoring future engineers, and empowering teams to grow through disruption.