Anchorage Ransomware Defense and Cleanup Services

Ransomware has been widely adopted by cybercriminals and bad-actor states, representing a possibly existential threat to companies that are breached. The latest strains of crypto-ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including online backup, making even selective restoration a challenging and costly process. Novel variations of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Mailto (aka Netwalker), Phobos, Snatch and Nephilim have emerged, replacing Locky, Cerber, and CryptoWall in notoriety, sophistication, and destructive impact.

Most crypto-ransomware breaches come from innocent-seeming emails that include malicious hyperlinks or attachments, and a high percentage are so-called "zero-day" strains that can escape detection by legacy signature-matching antivirus (AV) filters. Although user training and up-front identification are important to protect against ransomware attacks, leading practices demand that you assume some malware will inevitably get through and that you implement a strong backup mechanism that permits you to restore files and services rapidly with little if any losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Assessment is a low-cost service centered around a remote discussion with a Progent security expert skilled in ransomware defense and repair. In the course of this assessment Progent will work with your Anchorage IT managers to collect critical information about your cybersecurity profile and backup environment. Progent will utilize this data to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment documenting how to adhere to best practices for implementing and managing your security and backup systems to block or clean up after a ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment focuses on vital areas associated with crypto-ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The report addresses:

Security

• Effective allocation and use of administration accounts
• Correct NTFS and SMB permissions
• Proper firewall configuration
• Secure RDP access
• Advice about AntiVirus (AV) tools selection and deployment

• Split permission architecture for backup integrity
• Protecting critical servers such as AD
• Geographically dispersed backups including cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts or steals 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 send a specified ransom, usually via a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a brief period of time. It is not guaranteed that delivering the ransom will recover the lost files or prevent its publication. Files can be encrypted or deleted across a network based on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot solve the military-grade encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A common ransomware delivery package is booby-trapped email, whereby the target is tricked into interacting with by means of a social engineering exploit known as spear phishing. This causes the email message to appear to come from a familiar source. Another popular vulnerability is a poorly protected RDP port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker opened the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different versions of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars per year, roughly doubling every two years. Notorious examples are Locky, and Petya. Current headline variants like Ryuk, Maze and Cerber are more elaborate and have caused more damage than earlier strains. Even if your backup procedures enable you to recover your encrypted data, you can still be threatened by exfiltration, where stolen data are exposed to the public (known as "doxxing"). Because new variants of ransomware crop up daily, there is no guarantee that conventional signature-matching anti-virus filters will block the latest attack. If threat does show up in an email, it is critical that your users have learned to be aware of social engineering techniques. Your last line of defense is a sound scheme for performing and retaining offsite backups plus the deployment of dependable restoration tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Assessment in Anchorage
For pricing details and to learn more about how Progent's ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Assessment can bolster your protection against crypto-ransomware in Anchorage, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.