City of Detroit gets proactive about data security and ransomware protection

Overview

Facing rising security risks and labor-intensive backup processes, the City of Detroit needed to modernize its data-protection strategy. The city chose Cohesity for its immutable backups, AI-powered threat detection, and ability to protect both on-premises and cloud workloads, including Microsoft 365. Now the city’s IT team can detect threats sooner, rapidly restore clean data during cyber events or after accidental data loss, and even run virtual machines directly from backups to maintain service continuity. 

The Challenge

The City of Detroit’s IT department supports all municipal services, from health to taxes and transportation. “Our mission in IT is to make the everyday services that residents depend on work—all the time,” says David Dawson, System Administrator Supervisor. “If a virtual machine or database is lost or encrypted in a cyberattack, buses might be late or a call from a resident needing emergency rent assistance might go unanswered.” 

The city’s internally built backup system worked, but securing the data required time-consuming manual processes. To take backups offline, for example, someone would have to walk over to the data center and physically unplug servers. The IT department wanted to modernize its data-protection system ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft, when Detroit would enter the national spotlight. “Data security and resilience are top priorities for the city,” Dawson says. “We’re obligated to protect personally identifiable information [PII] and personal health information [PHI] stored in backups. And if a threat gets through our defenses, we need to know that we can quickly recover clean data.” 

The Solution

After comparing leading data-protection solutions, the City of Detroit chose Cohesity Data Cloud, which stood apart for its immutable backups and AI-based threat detection. “Cohesity gives us more than a way to react to attacks by recovering clean data,” Dawson says. “It also allows us to be proactive about preventing attacks with multifactor authentication, role-based access controls, and AI-based identification of unusual activity in backups that can signal a threat.”

The city uses the Cohesity solution to back up departmental data like virtual machines and databases as well as cloud applications like Microsoft 365 and Google. “Cohesity ingests every type of workload we run, from every cloud and on-prem location,” Dawson says. The police, fire departments, public works, and transportation departments were the first to adopt Cohesity, leading the way for all other departments, including the City Council and Mayor’s Office. Plans include using Cohesity to back up on-prem data in a public cloud, supporting the city’s move to cloud-based infrastructure.

The Result

Moving to Cohesity elevated the city’s security posture and cyber resilience. The IT team receives an alert if the Cohesity solution detects anything out of the ordinary in backup activity. “Usually there’s a simple explanation, like someone on our team wiped a database and forgot to tell anyone,” Dawson says. “But sometimes it’s a real threat, like a ransomware attack in its early stages. Early awareness helps us take action sooner to keep vital city services up and running.” 

If an attack gets through defenses, the IT team can recover clean data from immutable Cohesity backups and restore it to existing or new infrastructure. The same applies to accidental data loss. When a city user inadvertently deleted cloud data, the team restored it back to the cloud quickly. “If the data is critical, we can even run virtual machines directly from the Cohesity backups, avoiding delays while data is moved to production servers,” says Dawson. 

IT efficiency has also increased. “With Cohesity we’ve been able to cut management time, including patching and upgrades, by about 40%,” Dawson says. “The staff member who used to work exclusively on backups now has time to support other IT programs for Detroit’s residents and the workforce.” Complying with security regulations is simpler because Cohesity backups are encrypted, immutable, and kept in multiple locations. Those factors also help the city qualify for cyber insurance. 

An unexpected benefit: cost savings on primary storage used for non-critical data like event photos and old reports. “The city is saving around $50,000 annually in taxpayer dollars by using lower-tier storage with lower-level support,” says Dawson. “We don’t need higher-level support because if something goes wrong we know we can quickly restore the data from Cohesity backups.” 

City leaders consider Cohesity’s biggest value as making sure that city services are available when needed. “If you can’t pay a parking ticket because the VM was lost or corrupted, nobody will be upset,” Dawson says. “But public safety, health, and transportation systems are vitally important to well-being and quality of life. Having a data-protection system that is reliable, with security features like immutability, definitely has me sleeping better at night.” 

Dawson continues, “I consider Cohesity a partner, not just a vendor. I’m on a first-name basis with my Cohesity account manager, and I can call him directly. If he doesn’t know the answer, he’ll find it. When the going gets tough, I know that Cohesity will be right there with us.”

Key Benefits

• Up to 40% less management overhead 
• Up to $50,000 in annual savings in support contracts for primary storage 
• Increased resilience with immutable backups  
• Compliance with privacy regulations governing PII and PHI 

About City of Detroit

Detroit is known as the automobile capital of the world and famous for its Motown-era music legacy. As of 2025, the city’s population is estimated at over 645,000. City government consists of more than 30 departments with approximately 9,000 employees.