Allentown Ransomware Protection and Removal Services

Ransomware has been weaponized by the major cyber-crime organizations and rogue governments, representing a potentially existential risk to businesses that are victimized. Current strains of ransomware target everything, including backup, making even partial restoration a long and expensive process. Novel variations of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Phobos, LockBit and Egregor have made the headlines, displacing Locky, TeslaCrypt, and CryptoWall in prominence, sophistication, and destructiveness.

Most crypto-ransomware infections are caused by innocent-looking emails that include dangerous links or file attachments, and many are "zero-day" variants that elude detection by legacy signature-matching antivirus (AV) filters. While user education and up-front identification are important to protect against ransomware, leading practices dictate that you take for granted some attacks will eventually succeed and that you prepare a strong backup solution that enables you to recover rapidly with little if any losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Checkup is a low-cost service centered around a remote discussion with a Progent security expert experienced in ransomware defense and recovery. In the course of this assessment Progent will collaborate with your Allentown IT management staff to gather pertinent information about your security posture and backup environment. Progent will utilize this information to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment documenting how to adhere to best practices for configuring and managing your cybersecurity and backup systems to prevent or recover from a crypto-ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report highlights key areas associated with ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The review covers:

Security

• Proper allocation and use of administration accounts
• Appropriate NTFS and SMB permissions
• Proper firewall configuration
• Safe Remote Desktop Protocol configuration
• Guidance for AntiVirus tools selection and configuration

• Split permission architecture for backup protection
• Protecting required servers including AD
• Geographically dispersed backups with cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts or deletes files so they cannot be used or are publicized. Crypto-ransomware often locks the victim's computer. To avoid the damage, the target is required to pay a specified ransom, typically in the form of a crypto currency such as Bitcoin, within a short period of time. It is never certain that delivering the extortion price will restore the damaged files or avoid its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or erased throughout a network depending on the target's write permissions, and you cannot break the strong encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A typical ransomware delivery package is booby-trapped email, in which the user is tricked into responding to by a social engineering exploit called spear phishing. This makes the email to look as though it came from a familiar sender. Another popular attack vector is a poorly protected Remote Desktop Protocol port.

CryptoLocker ushered in the new age of crypto-ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses attributed to by different strains of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars annually, roughly doubling every other year. Notorious attacks include Locky, and NotPetya. Current high-profile variants like Ryuk, Sodinokibi and TeslaCrypt are more complex and have caused more damage than older strains. Even if your backup procedures permit you to recover your encrypted data, you can still be hurt by so-called exfiltration, where stolen documents are exposed to the public. Because new versions of ransomware crop up every day, there is no guarantee that traditional signature-matching anti-virus tools will block a new malware. If threat does appear in an email, it is important that your end users have been taught to be aware of social engineering techniques. Your last line of protection is a solid process for scheduling and keeping remote backups plus the use of dependable recovery tools.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Audit in Allentown
For pricing information and to learn more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Testing can bolster your defense against ransomware in Allentown, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.