Anchorage Ransomware Prevention and Removal Services

Ransomware has been widely adopted by cybercriminals and bad-actor states, representing a potentially existential threat to companies that fall victim. Current variations of crypto-ransomware go after everything, including backup, making even partial recovery a challenging and expensive process. Novel versions of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Mailto (aka Netwalker), Phobos, LockBit and Nephilim have made the headlines, replacing Locky, TeslaCrypt, and NotPetya in notoriety, sophistication, and destructive impact.

90% of crypto-ransomware penetrations come from innocuous-looking emails that have dangerous links or file attachments, and many are so-called "zero-day" attacks that elude detection by legacy signature-matching antivirus (AV) filters. While user training and frontline detection are important to defend against ransomware attacks, leading practices demand that you expect that some attacks will inevitably get through and that you put in place a strong backup solution that permits you to repair the damage quickly with minimal damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Assessment is a low-cost service centered around a remote interview with a Progent security consultant skilled in ransomware protection and recovery. In the course of this interview Progent will cooperate with your Anchorage IT management staff to gather pertinent information concerning your cybersecurity setup and backup processes. Progent will use this data to produce a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment documenting how to adhere to best practices for configuring and administering your cybersecurity and backup solution to prevent or recover from a crypto-ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment highlights key issues associated with crypto-ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The report addresses:

Cybersecurity

• Correct use of admin accounts
• Assigning NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB (Server Message Block) permissions
• Optimal firewall setup
• Secure Remote Desktop Protocol connections
• Guidance for AntiVirus filtering identification and deployment

• Split permission model for backup protection
• Backing up critical servers such as AD
• Offsite backups with cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malicious software that encrypts or steals files so they are unusable or are publicized. Crypto-ransomware often locks the target's computer. To prevent the carnage, the target is asked to send a certain ransom, usually in the form of a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a short time window. It is never certain that delivering the extortion price will restore the damaged files or prevent its exposure to the public. Files can be encrypted or deleted across a network depending on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot reverse engineer the strong encryption technologies used on the compromised files. A common ransomware delivery package is booby-trapped email, whereby the target is tricked into responding to by means of a social engineering technique known as spear phishing. This causes the email message to appear to come from a familiar source. Another popular attack vector is a poorly secured Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port.

CryptoLocker opened the modern era of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different strains of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars per year, more than doubling every two years. Famous examples are Locky, and NotPetya. Current high-profile variants like Ryuk, DoppelPaymer and TeslaCrypt are more sophisticated and have wreaked more havoc than older versions. Even if your backup/recovery processes allow your business to restore your ransomed files, you can still be hurt by so-called exfiltration, where stolen data are made public. Because additional variants of ransomware are launched every day, there is no guarantee that traditional signature-matching anti-virus filters will detect a new attack. If threat does appear in an email, it is important that your users have learned to identify social engineering tricks. Your last line of protection is a sound scheme for scheduling and retaining offsite backups and the use of reliable restoration platforms.

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