Beverly Hills Ransomware Defense and Recovery Consulting

Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for cyber extortionists and malicious states, posing a potentially lethal threat to businesses that fall victim. Modern strains of ransomware target all vulnerable resources, including online backup, making even partial recovery a long and costly exercise. New strains of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, DopplePaymer, LockBit and Egregor have made the headlines, replacing Locky, Spora, and Petya in prominence, sophistication, and destructive impact.

90% of ransomware infections come from innocent-looking emails that have dangerous hyperlinks or attachments, and many are "zero-day" variants that elude the defenses of traditional signature-matching antivirus (AV) filters. While user education and up-front detection are critical to defend your network against ransomware, best practices dictate that you take for granted some attacks will eventually get through and that you put in place a solid backup solution that enables you to restore files and services quickly with minimal damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Checkup is a low-cost service centered around a remote interview with a Progent cybersecurity consultant skilled in ransomware defense and recovery. In the course of this interview Progent will collaborate with your Beverly Hills IT managers to gather pertinent data about your security posture and backup processes. Progent will utilize this data to generate a Basic Security and Best Practices Report documenting how to apply best practices for implementing and managing your security and backup systems to block or clean up after a crypto-ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report highlights key areas related to ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The review addresses:

Cybersecurity

• Correct use of administration accounts
• Appropriate NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB (Server Message Block) authorizations
• Proper firewall settings
• Safe Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) access
• Advice about AntiVirus tools selection and configuration

• Split permission model for backup protection
• Protecting key servers including AD
• Offsite backups with cloud backup to Microsoft Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts or deletes a victim's files so they are unusable or are made publicly available. Crypto-ransomware often locks the target's computer. To prevent the damage, the victim is required to pay a specified ransom, usually in the form of a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a short time window. It is not guaranteed that paying the extortion price will recover the damaged files or prevent its publication. Files can be encrypted or erased throughout a network based on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot break the military-grade encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A typical ransomware delivery package is tainted email, whereby the user is tricked into responding to by means of a social engineering exploit called spear phishing. This causes the email message to look as though it came from a trusted source. Another popular attack vector is an improperly secured Remote Desktop Protocol port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker ushered in the modern era of crypto-ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different strains of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars annually, more than doubling every other year. Famous attacks include Locky, and NotPetya. Recent headline threats like Ryuk, Maze and Cerber are more sophisticated and have caused more damage than earlier strains. Even if your backup/recovery procedures permit your business to recover your ransomed files, you can still be hurt by so-called exfiltration, where ransomed documents are made public (known as "doxxing"). Because additional variants of ransomware are launched daily, there is no guarantee that traditional signature-based 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 protection is a solid process for performing and keeping remote backups and the use of reliable restoration tools.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Readiness Review in Beverly Hills
For pricing information and to learn more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Testing can enhance your protection against ransomware in Beverly Hills, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.