Birmingham Ransomware Protection and Cleanup Expertise

Ransomware Hot Line: 800-462-8800

24x7 Remote Help from a Senior Ransomware Consultant
Ransomware needs time to steal its way through a target network. For this reason, ransomware assaults are typically launched on weekends and at night, when IT staff may be slower to recognize a break-in and are less able to organize a quick and coordinated response. The more lateral progress ransomware can manage within a target's network, the more time it will require to recover basic operations and damaged files and the more information can be exfiltrated to the dark web.

Progent's Ransomware Hot Line is designed to guide organizations to complete the urgent first phase in mitigating a ransomware attack by containing the malware. Progent's remote ransomware engineers can help businesses in the Birmingham metro area to identify and quarantine breached servers and endpoints and protect clean resources from being penetrated.

If your network has been penetrated by any version of ransomware, don't panic. Get immediate help by calling Progent's Ransomware Hot Line at 800-462-8800.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Expertise Available in Birmingham
Modern strains of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, DopplePaymer, and Nephilim encrypt online data and infiltrate any available backups. Files synchronized to the cloud can also be impacted. For a vulnerable network, this can make automated recovery nearly impossible and basically knocks the IT system back to the beginning. Threat Actors, the hackers responsible for ransomware attack, insist on a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption tools required to unlock encrypted files. Ransomware assaults also try to steal (or "exfiltrate") files and hackers require an extra ransom for not publishing this data or selling it. Even if you are able to rollback your system to a tolerable point in time, exfiltration can pose a major problem according to the nature of the downloaded data.

The recovery process subsequent to ransomware penetration has a number of distinct stages, most of which can proceed concurrently if the response team has enough people with the required skill sets.

• Quarantine: This urgent first step involves arresting the sideways spread of ransomware across your IT system. The more time a ransomware attack is permitted to go unrestricted, the more complex and more costly the recovery effort. Recognizing this, Progent keeps a 24x7 Ransomware Hotline staffed by seasoned ransomware recovery engineers. Quarantine activities consist of cutting off affected endpoints from the rest of network to block the spread, documenting the IT system, and securing entry points.
• System continuity: This involves bringing back the network to a basic useful degree of functionality with the shortest possible downtime. This process is typically the highest priority for the victims of the ransomware attack, who often perceive it to be a life-or-death issue for their business. This activity also requires the widest array of technical skills that span domain controllers, DHCP servers, physical and virtual servers, desktops, laptops and smart phones, databases, productivity and line-of-business apps, network topology, and secure remote access management. Progent's ransomware recovery experts use advanced workgroup tools to organize the complex recovery effort. Progent understands the importance of working quickly, continuously, and in concert with a customer's managers and network support staff to prioritize activity and to put critical services back online as quickly as possible.
• Data recovery: The effort required to restore data impacted by a ransomware attack varies according to the condition of the network, the number of files that are encrypted, and which restore methods are needed. Ransomware assaults can take down key databases which, if not carefully shut down, may have to be reconstructed from scratch. This can include DNS and Active Directory (AD) databases. Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server depend on Active Directory, and many financial and other mission-critical platforms are powered by SQL Server. Often some detective work may be needed to locate undamaged data. For example, non-encrypted Outlook Email Offline Folder Files may have survived on staff desktop computers and laptops that were not connected at the time of the ransomware attack.
• Setting up advanced antivirus/ransomware protection: Progent's Active Security Monitoring gives small and medium-sized companies the benefits of the same anti-virus tools deployed by some of the world's largest corporations including Netflix, Visa, and Salesforce. By delivering real-time malware filtering, detection, mitigation, recovery and analysis in a single integrated platform, ProSight Active Security Monitoring lowers total cost of ownership, simplifies management, and promotes rapid resumption of operations. The next-generation endpoint protection (NGEP) built into in ProSight Active Security Monitoring was listed by Gartner Group as the "most visionary Endpoint Protection Platform." Learn about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.
• Negotiating a settlement with the threat actor (TA): Progent is experienced in negotiating settlements with hackers. This requires close co-operation with the ransomware victim and the cyber insurance provider, if there is one. Services include determining the type of ransomware used in the assault; identifying and establishing communications the hacker; testing decryption tool; budgeting a settlement with the victim and the cyber insurance carrier; establishing a settlement and timeline with the hacker; confirming adherence to anti-money laundering sanctions; overseeing the crypto-currency payment to the TA; receiving, learning, and operating the decryption utility; debugging decryption problems; building a clean environment; mapping and reconnecting datastores to reflect precisely their pre-attack condition; and recovering computers and services.
• Forensic analysis: This activity is aimed at learning the ransomware attack's progress across the network from beginning to end. This audit trail of how a ransomware attack travelled through the network helps your IT staff to assess the damage and brings to light vulnerabilities in policies or processes that need to be rectified to prevent future breaches. Forensics entails the examination of all logs, registry, Group Policy Object, AD, DNS servers, routers, firewalls, schedulers, and core Windows systems to look for variations. Forensic analysis is usually given a high priority by the insurance carrier. Since forensics can be time consuming, it is vital that other key activities such as operational resumption are pursued in parallel. Progent maintains an extensive roster of IT and cybersecurity professionals with the skills needed to perform activities for containment, operational continuity, and data restoration without interfering with forensic analysis.

Contact Progent for Ransomware System Recovery Services in Birmingham
For ransomware recovery services in the Birmingham metro area, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.