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Ransomware : Your Worst Information Technology Catastrophe
Ransomware has become an escalating cyber pandemic that presents an enterprise-level threat for organizations vulnerable to an assault. Multiple generations of ransomware such as Dharma, WannaCry, Bad Rabbit, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been out in the wild for years and continue to cause harm. The latest variants of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Snatch or Nephilim, along with additional as yet unnamed newcomers, not only encrypt on-line data but also infect many accessible system backups. Information synched to off-site disaster recovery sites can also be encrypted. In a poorly designed data protection solution, it can render automatic restoration impossible and effectively knocks the network back to square one.

Getting back on-line services and information after a ransomware event becomes a race against time as the targeted organization struggles to contain the damage, eradicate the crypto-ransomware, and restore business-critical activity. Since crypto-ransomware requires time to move laterally, penetrations are frequently sprung during weekends and nights, when attacks are likely to take longer to discover. This multiplies the difficulty of rapidly assembling and organizing a capable mitigation team.

Progent has a range of solutions for securing businesses from crypto-ransomware attacks. These include team education to help identify and not fall victim to phishing exploits, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, plus deployment of modern security gateways with artificial intelligence technology from SentinelOne to detect and quarantine day-zero cyber attacks quickly. Progent in addition can provide the services of experienced ransomware recovery consultants with the skills and commitment to reconstruct a breached environment as urgently as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Help
Soon after a ransomware attack, sending the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not guarantee that merciless criminals will respond with the needed keys to decrypt any of your files. Kaspersky estimated that 17% of crypto-ransomware victims never recovered their files after having paid the ransom, resulting in increased losses. The gamble is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are typically several hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom demand can reach millions. The alternative is to re-install the mission-critical parts of your Information Technology environment. Absent access to complete data backups, this requires a broad range of skill sets, top notch team management, and the ability to work continuously until the task is complete.

For twenty years, Progent has made available certified expert Information Technology services for businesses throughout the US and has achieved Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts includes engineers who have been awarded high-level certifications in foundation technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distributions of Linux. Progent's cyber security engineers have earned internationally-renowned certifications including CISM, CISSP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (See Progent's certifications). Progent also has experience in accounting and ERP software solutions. This breadth of experience affords Progent the capability to efficiently determine necessary systems and re-organize the surviving pieces of your network system following a ransomware attack and configure them into an operational system.

Progent's recovery team uses top notch project management tools to coordinate the complex recovery process. Progent knows the urgency of acting quickly and together with a client's management and Information Technology resources to assign priority to tasks and to get key services back online as fast as humanly possible.

Customer Story: A Successful Crypto-Ransomware Virus Restoration
A client engaged Progent after their network system was penetrated by the Ryuk crypto-ransomware. Ryuk is believed to have been created by Northern Korean government sponsored criminal gangs, possibly adopting techniques leaked from the U.S. NSA organization. Ryuk attacks specific businesses with limited room for disruption and is one of the most lucrative instances of ransomware. Headline victims include Data Resolution, a California-based data warehousing and cloud computing company, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a regional manufacturing business headquartered in Chicago with about 500 employees. The Ryuk intrusion had paralyzed all essential operations and manufacturing capabilities. The majority of the client's information backups had been directly accessible at the beginning of the intrusion and were encrypted. The client was actively seeking loans for paying the ransom (exceeding $200K) and wishfully thinking for the best, but ultimately utilized Progent.

Progent worked with the client to rapidly identify and prioritize the essential applications that needed to be restored in order to continue company functions:

• Microsoft Active Directory
• Electronic Messaging
• Financials/MRP

In less than 48 hours, Progent was able to restore Active Directory services to its pre-virus state. Progent then accomplished rebuilding and hard drive recovery of mission critical servers. All Microsoft Exchange Server schema and attributes were usable, which greatly helped the restore of Exchange. Progent was also able to assemble intact OST data files (Outlook Email Off-Line Data Files) on team workstations and laptops to recover email data. A not too old offline backup of the client's financials/MRP software made them able to restore these essential services back online. Although major work still had to be done to recover totally from the Ryuk virus, critical services were restored rapidly:

Over the next few weeks key milestones in the restoration project were completed in tight collaboration between Progent consultants and the customer:

• Self-hosted web sites were brought back up with no loss of information.
• The MailStore Microsoft Exchange Server exceeding 4 million archived emails was brought online and available for users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoices/Accounts Payable (AP)/Accounts Receivables (AR)/Inventory capabilities were 100% operational.
• A new Palo Alto 850 firewall was installed.
• Most of the desktops and laptops were functioning as before the incident.

Conclusion
A potential business extinction disaster was averted due to results-oriented professionals, a broad array of subject matter expertise, and tight teamwork. Although in post mortem the crypto-ransomware virus attack described here should have been prevented with current cyber security technology and NIST Cybersecurity Framework or ISO/IEC 27001 best practices, team training, and well designed security procedures for data protection and applying software patches, the reality remains that state-sponsored cyber criminals from China, Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are relentless and are not going away. If you do fall victim to a ransomware virus, remember that Progent's roster of professionals has substantial experience in ransomware virus defense, remediation, and data restoration.

To read or download a PDF version of this ransomware incident report, click:
Progent's Ransomware Incident Recovery Case Study Datasheet. (PDF - 282 KB)

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent offers businesses in Anaheim a portfolio of remote monitoring and security assessment services to help you to reduce your vulnerability to ransomware. These services include next-generation AI technology to uncover new variants of ransomware that are able to escape detection by traditional signature-based anti-virus solutions.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Monitoring
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop remote monitoring service that incorporates state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management (RMM) technology to help keep your network running efficiently by tracking the state of vital assets that power your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch detects a problem, an alert is sent immediately to your specified IT management staff and your Progent engineering consultant so all looming issues can be addressed before they have a chance to impact your network. Find out more details about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring services.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Centralized RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software delivers a unified, cloud-driven platform for monitoring and managing your client-server infrastructure by providing an environment for streamlining common tedious tasks. These can include health monitoring, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint setup, backup and recovery, anti-virus defense, secure remote access, standard and custom scripts, resource inventory, endpoint profile reports, and debugging assistance. When ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious incident, it sends an alarm to your designated IT personnel and your assigned Progent consultant so that potential issues can be taken care of before they impact productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop monitoring consulting.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Network Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is an infrastructure management service that makes it easy and inexpensive for small and mid-sized organizations to diagram, monitor, enhance and troubleshoot their networking appliances like routers and switches, firewalls, and wireless controllers plus servers, printers, client computers and other devices. Incorporating cutting-edge Remote Monitoring and Management technology, ProSight WAN Watch ensures that network diagrams are always current, captures and manages the configuration of virtually all devices connected to your network, tracks performance, and generates alerts when potential issues are detected. By automating complex management and troubleshooting processes, WAN Watch can knock hours off ordinary chores like network mapping, reconfiguring your network, locating devices that require critical updates, or isolating performance bottlenecks. Find out more details about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure management services.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Applications
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding family of real-time management reporting tools designed to integrate with the leading ticketing and network monitoring programs such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to highlight and contextualize critical issues like inconsistent support follow-up or machines with out-of-date AVs. By identifying ticketing or network health concerns clearly and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves network value, reduces management hassle, and saves money. For details, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring platforms.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Managed Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has partnered with advanced backup/restore technology providers to produce ProSight Data Protection Services, a portfolio of offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS products manage and track your backup processes and enable transparent backup and rapid restoration of vital files, applications, system images, plus VMs. ProSight DPS lets you recover from data loss caused by equipment breakdown, natural calamities, fire, malware such as ransomware, human error, ill-intentioned employees, or software glitches. Managed backup services available in the ProSight DPS product line include ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight DPS ECHO Backup based on Barracuda dedicated storage, and ProSight DPS MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent expert can help you to determine which of these managed services are best suited for your network.

• ProSight Email Guard: Inbound and Outbound Spam Filtering and Data Leakage Protection
  ProSight Email Guard is Progent's spam filtering and email encryption service that uses the infrastructure of top data security companies to deliver centralized management and world-class protection for all your inbound and outbound email. The powerful architecture of Email Guard managed service combines a Cloud Protection Layer with a local gateway device to provide advanced protection against spam, viruses, Dos Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks, and other email-borne malware. Email Guard's cloud filter serves as a first line of defense and blocks the vast majority of unwanted email from reaching your network firewall. This decreases your vulnerability to external attacks and saves system bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's onsite security gateway device adds a deeper level of analysis for incoming email. For outgoing email, the onsite security gateway provides anti-virus and anti-spam filtering, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The onsite gateway can also assist Exchange Server to track and protect internal email that originates and ends within your security perimeter. For more details, see Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Remediation, and Secure Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo authentication services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you log into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to verify who you are on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used as this added form of authentication including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services.

• Outsourced/Co-managed Service Center: Call Center Managed Services
  Progent's Support Center services permit your information technology group to outsource Call Center services to Progent or split activity for Help Desk services transparently between your in-house network support resources and Progent's extensive pool of certified IT service engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service provides a smooth extension of your internal IT support team. User interaction with the Service Desk, provision of technical assistance, problem escalation, trouble ticket creation and tracking, performance metrics, and management of the service database are cohesive whether incidents are taken care of by your in-house network support staff, by Progent, or a mix of the two. Read more about Progent's outsourced/shared Help Desk services.

• Active Protection Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Detection and Remediation
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection service that incorporates cutting edge behavior analysis technology to guard endpoint devices and physical and virtual servers against new malware assaults like ransomware and file-less exploits, which easily evade traditional signature-matching anti-virus products. Progent Active Security Monitoring services protect local and cloud resources and offers a single platform to address the entire threat lifecycle including filtering, detection, mitigation, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Top capabilities include one-click rollback with Windows VSS and real-time system-wide immunization against newly discovered attacks. Find out more about Progent's ransomware defense and recovery services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service is a cloud-based IT documentation management service that makes it easy to create, update, retrieve and protect data related to your IT infrastructure, procedures, applications, and services. You can instantly locate passwords or serial numbers and be warned about upcoming expirations of SSLs or warranties. By updating and organizing your network documentation, you can save up to 50% of time wasted looking for vital information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a common repository for storing and collaborating on all documents required for managing your business network such as recommended procedures and self-service instructions. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports advanced automation for gathering and associating IT information. Whether you're planning enhancements, performing regular maintenance, or reacting to an emergency, ProSight IT Asset Management gets you the data you need when you need it. Find out more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services
  Progent's managed services for software and firmware patch management offer businesses of all sizes a versatile and cost-effective solution for assessing, testing, scheduling, implementing, and tracking updates to your dynamic IT network. Besides maximizing the security and functionality of your IT network, Progent's software/firmware update management services permit your IT team to concentrate on line-of-business projects and tasks that deliver the highest business value from your network. Read more about Progent's patch management support services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size organization can have its critical servers and apps hosted in a secure Tier III data center on a high-performance virtual host configured and maintained by Progent's network support professionals. Under Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the client retains ownership of the data, the OS platforms, and the applications. Because the environment is virtualized, it can be moved immediately to a different hardware solution without a lengthy and difficult configuration procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not locked into one hosting provider. Learn more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring is an endpoint protection (EPP) solution that utilizes SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior machine learning tools to guard physical and virtual endpoints against new malware assaults like ransomware and file-less exploits, which easily get by legacy signature-based AV products. ProSight ASM safeguards local and cloud-based resources and provides a unified platform to manage the complete malware attack progression including filtering, identification, mitigation, remediation, and forensics. Top capabilities include single-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time system-wide immunization against newly discovered threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP): Endpoint Protection and Exchange Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) managed services deliver economical multi-layer security for physical servers and VMs, workstations, smartphones, and Exchange Server. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for continuously monitoring and responding to cyber assaults from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP offers firewall protection, penetration alarms, device management, and web filtering through cutting-edge technologies packaged within a single agent accessible from a unified control. Progent's security and virtualization consultants can assist your business to design and configure a ProSight ESP environment that addresses your company's unique needs and that helps you achieve and demonstrate compliance with legal and industry data protection regulations. Progent will help you define and configure security policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and respond to alarms that call for immediate attention. Progent can also assist you to install and verify a backup and disaster recovery solution like ProSight Data Protection Services so you can get back in business quickly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack like ransomware. Read more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified physical and virtual endpoint protection and Exchange email filtering.