Anchorage Ransomware Filtering and Restoration Services

Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for cybercriminals and malicious governments, representing a potentially existential threat to companies that fall victim. Modern variations of ransomware target all vulnerable resources, including backup, making even selective recovery a complex and expensive exercise. New variations of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, DopplePaymer, Conti and Egregor have made the headlines, replacing WannaCry, Cerber, and CryptoWall in prominence, elaborateness, and destructive impact.

90% of ransomware infections are the result of innocuous-looking emails that include dangerous hyperlinks or file attachments, and a high percentage are so-called "zero-day" strains that can escape the defenses of traditional signature-matching antivirus filters. Although user education and up-front identification are important to defend your network against ransomware, best practices demand that you take for granted some malware will inevitably get through and that you put in place a solid backup solution that permits you to recover rapidly with little if any losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Report is a low-cost service built around a remote discussion with a Progent security consultant experienced in ransomware defense and repair. During this interview Progent will cooperate with your Anchorage IT management staff to gather pertinent information concerning your cybersecurity posture and backup environment. Progent will use this information to generate a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment documenting how to apply best practices for implementing and managing your cybersecurity and backup solution to prevent or recover from a ransomware attack.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment highlights key areas related to ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The review covers:

Cybersecurity

• Proper use of admin accounts
• Assigning NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB (Server Message Block) permissions
• Proper firewall setup
• Secure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) access
• Advice about AntiVirus tools selection and configuration

• Split permission model for backup integrity
• Backing up key servers such as Active Directory
• Geographically dispersed backups with cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts or deletes files so they cannot be used or are made publicly available. Ransomware often locks the target's computer. To avoid the carnage, the victim is asked to send a certain amount of money, usually in the form of a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a brief time window. There is no guarantee that delivering the extortion price will restore the damaged files or prevent its exposure to the public. Files can be encrypted or erased across a network based on the target's write permissions, and you cannot break the strong encryption technologies used on the hostage files. A common ransomware delivery package is tainted email, whereby the victim is lured into interacting with by a social engineering technique known as spear phishing. This causes the email message to appear to come from a familiar source. Another common vulnerability is a poorly protected Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port.

CryptoLocker opened the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the damage attributed to by the many strains of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars annually, roughly doubling every two years. Famous examples are WannaCry, and Petya. Recent high-profile threats like Ryuk, DoppelPaymer and Cerber are more elaborate and have wreaked more damage than older versions. Even if your backup procedures permit your business to recover your encrypted data, you can still be hurt by exfiltration, where stolen documents are exposed to the public (known as "doxxing"). Because additional variants of ransomware crop up every day, there is no guarantee that conventional signature-based anti-virus filters will block the latest malware. If threat does appear in an email, it is important that your end users have been taught to identify social engineering techniques. Your last line of defense is a sound process for performing and retaining offsite backups plus the deployment of reliable restoration tools.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Audit in Anchorage
For pricing information and to learn more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Audit can bolster your protection against ransomware in Anchorage, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.