Alexandria Ransomware Protection and Restoration Solutions

Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for cybercriminals and malicious governments, posing a possibly existential threat to companies that are breached. Current versions of ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including online backup, making even selective recovery a long and expensive exercise. Novel strains of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Mailto (aka Netwalker), Phobos, Conti and Nephilim have emerged, displacing Locky, TeslaCrypt, and NotPetya in prominence, elaborateness, and destructive impact.

90% of crypto-ransomware penetrations are caused by innocent-looking emails that have malicious links or file attachments, and a high percentage are "zero-day" strains that can escape the defenses of legacy signature-based antivirus (AV) filters. While user education and frontline detection are critical to protect your network against ransomware attacks, leading practices demand that you assume some malware will inevitably succeed and that you put in place a solid backup solution that enables you to recover quickly with minimal losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Checkup is an ultra-affordable service built around a remote interview with a Progent security expert experienced in ransomware protection and recovery. In the course of this interview Progent will work with your Alexandria IT managers to collect critical information concerning your security posture and backup processes. Progent will use this data to generate a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment detailing how to apply leading practices for implementing and managing your security and backup solution to prevent or clean up after a ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment highlights vital areas related to crypto-ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The report addresses:

Cybersecurity

• Proper allocation and use of admin accounts
• Assigning NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB (Server Message Block) permissions
• Optimal firewall setup
• Secure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connections
• Recommend AntiVirus filtering identification and configuration

• Split permission model for backup protection
• Backing up key servers including AD
• Offsite backups including cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts or steals a victim's files so they cannot be used or are made publicly available. Crypto-ransomware sometimes locks the victim's computer. To avoid the carnage, the target is required to send a specified amount of money, typically in the form of a crypto currency such as Bitcoin, within a brief time window. There is no guarantee that paying the ransom will recover the damaged data or avoid its publication. Files can be encrypted or erased across a network based on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot reverse engineer the military-grade encryption technologies used on the compromised files. A common ransomware delivery package is tainted email, in which the victim is tricked into interacting with by means of a social engineering exploit known as spear phishing. This causes the email message to look as though it came from a trusted sender. Another popular vulnerability is an improperly protected Remote Desktop Protocol port.

CryptoLocker ushered in the modern era of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different versions of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars per year, more than doubling every other year. Famous examples include WannaCry, and Petya. Current headline threats like Ryuk, Maze and TeslaCrypt are more complex and have caused more havoc than older strains. Even if your backup procedures allow your business to restore your ransomed files, you can still be hurt by so-called exfiltration, where stolen data are exposed to the public (known as "doxxing"). Because new variants of ransomware are launched daily, there is no certainty that traditional signature-based anti-virus filters will detect a new malware. If threat does appear in an email, it is critical that your users have learned to identify social engineering tricks. Your last line of defense is a solid scheme for performing and retaining offsite backups and the use of dependable restoration tools.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Susceptibility Evaluation in Alexandria
For pricing details and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Report can bolster your protection against ransomware in Alexandria, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.