Birmingham Ransomware Protection and Remediation Consulting

Ransomware has been widely adopted by cybercriminals and bad-actor states, representing a potentially existential risk to companies that are victimized. Modern versions of ransomware target everything, including online backup, making even partial recovery a long and expensive process. New variations of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, DopplePaymer, Conti and Egregor have made the headlines, replacing WannaCry, Cerber, and CryptoWall in notoriety, sophistication, and destructive impact.

90% of ransomware penetrations are caused by innocent-looking emails with malicious links or file attachments, and many are "zero-day" strains that elude the defenses of traditional signature-matching antivirus (AV) tools. Although user education and frontline detection are important to defend your network against ransomware attacks, best practices demand that you assume some attacks will eventually succeed and that you implement a strong backup mechanism that enables you to restore files and services rapidly with minimal damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Checkup is a low-cost service centered around a remote discussion with a Progent security consultant experienced in ransomware defense and repair. During this interview Progent will cooperate directly with your Birmingham IT management staff to gather critical information about your cybersecurity profile and backup processes. Progent will utilize this information to generate a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment detailing how to adhere to best practices for implementing and managing your security and backup solution to block or clean up after a crypto-ransomware attack.

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

Security

• Proper use of administration accounts
• Appropriate NTFS and SMB (Server Message Block) authorizations
• Proper firewall setup
• Secure Remote Desktop Protocol connections
• Recommend AntiVirus tools identification and configuration

• Split permission model for backup integrity
• Protecting critical servers including Active Directory
• Offsite backups with cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a variety of malware that encrypts or deletes files so they are unusable or are made publicly available. Crypto-ransomware sometimes locks the target's computer. To avoid the damage, the victim is required to pay a specified amount of money (the ransom), usually via a crypto currency such as Bitcoin, within a brief time window. It is not guaranteed that paying the ransom will restore the lost data or avoid its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or deleted throughout a network based on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot break the military-grade encryption technologies used on the hostage files. A common ransomware attack vector is tainted email, whereby the user is lured into responding to by a social engineering technique called spear phishing. This makes the email message to look as though it came from a familiar sender. Another common attack vector is an improperly protected Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker opened the modern era of crypto-ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different strains of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars per year, roughly doubling every two years. Notorious attacks include WannaCry, and Petya. Recent headline variants like Ryuk, DoppelPaymer and Cerber are more sophisticated and have caused more havoc than older strains. Even if your backup processes permit your business to recover your encrypted files, you can still be threatened by exfiltration, where stolen data are made public (known as "doxxing"). Because new variants of ransomware crop up every day, there is no certainty that traditional signature-matching anti-virus tools will block a new malware. If threat does show up in an email, it is critical that your users have been taught to be aware of phishing techniques. Your last line of defense is a solid process for performing and keeping offsite backups and the use of reliable recovery platforms.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Vulnerability Audit in Birmingham
For pricing details and to learn more about how Progent's ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Susceptibility Audit can enhance your protection against crypto-ransomware in Birmingham, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.