Ransomware Hot Line: 800-462-8800
24x7 Remote Access to a Top-tier Ransomware Engineer
Ransomware requires time to steal its way through a target network. For this reason, ransomware assaults are typically launched on weekends and late at night, when IT staff are likely to be slower to recognize a break-in and are least able to organize a quick and forceful response. The more lateral progress ransomware is able to achieve within a victim's system, the more time it will require to restore basic operations and damaged files and the more information can be stolen and posted to the dark web.
Progent's Ransomware Hot Line is intended to assist organizations to carry out the urgent first phase in mitigating a ransomware assault by putting out the fire. Progent's online ransomware engineers can assist organizations in the Albany area to locate and quarantine infected devices and protect undamaged assets from being compromised.
If your network has been breached by any strain of ransomware, don't panic. Get immediate help by calling Progent's Ransomware Hot Line at 800-462-8800.
Progent's Ransomware Recovery Services Available in Albany
Current strains of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, DopplePaymer, and Nephilim encrypt online files and attack any available system restores. Files synched to the cloud can also be impacted. For a vulnerable environment, this can make system recovery nearly impossible and basically sets the IT system back to the beginning. So-called Threat Actors (TAs), the cybercriminals responsible for ransomware attack, insist on a ransom fee in exchange for the decryption tools required to recover scrambled files. Ransomware attacks also attempt to steal (or "exfiltrate") information and hackers require an extra settlement for not publishing this information on the dark web. Even if you are able to rollback your system to a tolerable date in time, exfiltration can be a major problem depending on the sensitivity of the stolen information.
The recovery process subsequent to ransomware attack involves several crucial stages, most of which can be performed concurrently if the response workgroup has enough people with the necessary experience.
- Quarantine: This time-critical initial response involves arresting the lateral spread of ransomware within your network. The more time a ransomware attack is permitted to run unchecked, the more complex and more costly the recovery process. Recognizing this, Progent maintains a round-the-clock Ransomware Hotline monitored by veteran ransomware recovery experts. Quarantine activities consist of cutting off affected endpoint devices from the rest of network to restrict the contagion, documenting the IT system, and securing entry points.
- System continuity: This involves restoring the network to a minimal acceptable degree of functionality with the least delay. This effort is typically at the highest level of urgency for the targets of the ransomware attack, who often see it as an existential issue for their business. This activity also demands the broadest range of technical abilities that cover domain controllers, DHCP servers, physical and virtual servers, PCs, notebooks and smart phones, databases, productivity and mission-critical applications, network architecture, and secure endpoint access. Progent's recovery team uses state-of-the-art workgroup platforms to organize the multi-faceted recovery effort. Progent understands the urgency of working rapidly, continuously, and in unison with a customer's managers and network support staff to prioritize tasks and to put critical services back online as fast as possible.
- Data restoration: The effort necessary to restore data damaged by a ransomware assault depends on the state of the network, the number of files that are affected, and which recovery techniques are required. Ransomware assaults can take down pivotal databases which, if not gracefully shut down, might need to be reconstructed from scratch. This can apply to DNS and Active Directory (AD) databases. Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server rely on Active Directory, and many manufacturing and other business-critical applications depend on SQL Server. Some detective work could be needed to locate clean data. For example, undamaged OST files (Outlook Email Offline Folder Files) may exist on employees' desktop computers and notebooks that were not connected during the assault. Progent's ProSight Data Protection Services offer Altaro VM Backup tools to protect against ransomware attacks via Immutable Cloud Storage. This produces tamper-proof data that cannot be modified by any user including administrators.
- Setting up advanced AV/ransomware defense: ProSight ASM incorporates SentinelOne's machine learning technology to offer small and mid-sized companies the advantages of the same AV tools deployed by many of the world's biggest enterprises including Walmart, Citi, and Salesforce. By providing real-time malware filtering, identification, containment, repair and forensics in a single integrated platform, Progent's ASM cuts total cost of ownership, streamlines management, and expedites recovery. SentinelOne's next-generation endpoint protection (NGEP) incorporated in Progent's ASM was ranked by Gartner Group as the industry's "most visionary Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)." Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Read about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware defense with SentinelOne technology.
- Negotiation with the hacker Progent is experienced in negotiating settlements with threat actors. This calls for working closely with the ransomware victim and the cyber insurance provider, if there is one. Services consist of determining the type of ransomware used in the attack; identifying and establishing communications the hacker persona; testing decryption tool; deciding on a settlement amount with the victim and the insurance provider; negotiating a settlement and schedule with the hacker; checking adherence to anti-money laundering sanctions; carrying out the crypto-currency payment to the hacker; receiving, learning, and using the decryption utility; debugging decryption problems; building a clean environment; remapping and connecting drives to match exactly their pre-encryption condition; and recovering machines and software services.
- Forensic analysis: This activity is aimed at discovering the ransomware assault's progress across the network from start to finish. This audit trail of how a ransomware assault progressed through the network helps you to assess the damage and brings to light shortcomings in rules or work habits that need to be rectified to prevent later break-ins. Forensics entails the examination of all logs, registry, Group Policy Object, AD, DNS servers, routers, firewalls, scheduled tasks, and basic Windows systems to check for variations. Forensics is usually assigned a high priority by the cyber insurance carrier. Since forensics can take time, it is essential that other key recovery processes such as business resumption are performed in parallel. Progent has a large roster of IT and data security professionals with the skills needed to carry out the work of containment, operational resumption, and data restoration without disrupting forensics.
Progent's Background
Progent has delivered online and on-premises IT services throughout the U.S. for more than two decades and has earned Microsoft's Partner certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes consultants who have earned high-level certifications in foundation technologies including Cisco networking, VMware virtualization, and major Linux distros. Progent's cybersecurity experts have earned internationally recognized certifications including CISA, CISSP-ISSAP, CRISC, and CMMC 2.0. (See Progent's certifications). Progent also offers guidance in financial and Enterprise Resource Planning software. This scope of expertise allows Progent to identify and integrate the surviving parts of your information system following a ransomware assault and reconstruct them rapidly into a functioning network. Progent has collaborated with top cyber insurance carriers like Chubb to assist businesses recover from ransomware attacks.
Contact Progent for Ransomware Cleanup Consulting Services in Albany
For ransomware recovery consulting in the Albany area, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.