Boise 24-Hour Emergency Crypto
Infection Assessment and Removal Support

Ransomware : Your Crippling Information Technology Catastrophe
Crypto-Ransomware has become an escalating cyber pandemic that poses an extinction-level danger for businesses of all sizes vulnerable to an assault. Different iterations of crypto-ransomware such as CryptoLocker, Fusob, Bad Rabbit, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been replicating for years and still cause harm. The latest variants of crypto-ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Conti or Nephilim, plus more as yet unnamed newcomers, not only do encryption of on-line information but also infect many accessible system protection. Information replicated to cloud environments can also be held hostage. In a poorly designed system, it can render automated restore operations hopeless and basically knocks the network back to zero.

Retrieving services and information following a crypto-ransomware outage becomes a race against time as the targeted business fights to contain, remove the ransomware, and restore enterprise-critical activity. Since crypto-ransomware takes time to replicate, attacks are often sprung on weekends and holidays, when penetrations may take longer to detect. This multiplies the difficulty of quickly assembling and organizing a qualified mitigation team.

Progent makes available a range of solutions for securing enterprises from ransomware attacks. These include team training to help identify and not fall victim to phishing attempts, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, along with setup and configuration of modern security solutions with machine learning capabilities from SentinelOne to identify and suppress day-zero cyber threats intelligently. Progent also can provide the assistance of experienced crypto-ransomware recovery professionals with the talent and perseverance to restore a compromised network as urgently as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Restoration Support Services
After a crypto-ransomware invasion, paying the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not guarantee that distant criminals will respond with the keys to unencrypt any or all of your information. Kaspersky Labs determined that seventeen percent of ransomware victims never restored their information after having sent off the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The gamble is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are commonly several hundred thousand dollars. For larger enterprises, the ransom can reach millions. The alternative is to piece back together the essential elements of your IT environment. Without the availability of essential system backups, this calls for a wide range of skill sets, top notch project management, and the willingness to work continuously until the job is done.

For twenty years, Progent has made available certified expert IT services for businesses across the U.S. and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts includes professionals who have been awarded top industry certifications in important technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity engineers have garnered internationally-renowned certifications including CISA, CISSP-ISSAP, ISACA CRISC, SANS GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Refer to Progent's certifications). Progent also has expertise with financial management and ERP software solutions. This breadth of experience provides Progent the capability to rapidly determine necessary systems and consolidate the surviving pieces of your Information Technology system following a ransomware penetration and configure them into a functioning network.

Progent's ransomware group deploys state-of-the-art project management applications to coordinate the sophisticated restoration process. Progent understands the urgency of working rapidly and in unison with a customer's management and IT resources to assign priority to tasks and to put the most important services back on-line as soon as possible.

Client Story: A Successful Ransomware Attack Recovery
A client contacted Progent after their network system was penetrated by Ryuk ransomware virus. Ryuk is generally considered to have been launched by North Korean state sponsored criminal gangs, suspected of using approaches leaked from the United States National Security Agency. Ryuk goes after specific organizations with little ability to sustain disruption and is one of the most profitable versions of ransomware viruses. Major organizations include Data Resolution, a California-based info warehousing and cloud computing company, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's client is a regional manufacturer headquartered in the Chicago metro area and has around 500 workers. The Ryuk penetration had frozen all business operations and manufacturing processes. The majority of the client's data backups had been directly accessible at the start of the attack and were destroyed. The client considered paying the ransom demand (more than two hundred thousand dollars) and wishfully thinking for good luck, but ultimately engaged Progent.

Progent worked together with the customer to quickly identify and prioritize the mission critical services that needed to be addressed to make it possible to restart business functions:

• Windows Active Directory
• Electronic Messaging
• Accounting and Manufacturing Software

Within two days, Progent was able to re-build Active Directory to its pre-attack state. Progent then completed reinstallations and storage recovery on needed applications. All Microsoft Exchange Server data and configuration information were usable, which greatly helped the restore of Exchange. Progent was able to assemble local OST files (Outlook Email Offline Folder Files) on user PCs in order to recover mail data. A recent offline backup of the customer's accounting/MRP systems made it possible to return these required applications back online. Although major work remained to recover totally from the Ryuk attack, essential systems were returned to operations rapidly:

Over the following couple of weeks key milestones in the recovery project were accomplished in close cooperation between Progent engineers and the client:

• Internal web sites were restored with no loss of data.
• The MailStore Microsoft Exchange Server with over 4 million historical messages was brought online and available for users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoicing/Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivables (AR)/Inventory modules were completely functional.
• A new Palo Alto 850 firewall was brought online.
• Most of the user desktops and notebooks were functioning as before the incident.

Conclusion
A probable business catastrophe was avoided through the efforts of dedicated professionals, a broad range of technical expertise, and close collaboration. Although in retrospect the ransomware attack described here would have been blocked with advanced security systems and best practices, team training, and properly executed incident response procedures for information protection and keeping systems up to date with security patches, the fact remains that government-sponsored cyber criminals from China, Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are relentless and represent an ongoing threat. If you do fall victim to a crypto-ransomware incursion, feel confident that Progent's roster of experts has a proven track record in ransomware virus defense, mitigation, and information systems recovery.

To read or download a PDF version of this customer story, click:
Progent's Crypto-Ransomware Incident Recovery Case Study Datasheet. (PDF - 282 KB)

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent can provide businesses in Boise a variety of online monitoring and security assessment services to assist you to minimize your vulnerability to ransomware. These services incorporate modern machine learning capability to uncover new strains of ransomware that are able to escape detection by legacy signature-based anti-virus solutions.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Monitoring and Management
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop remote monitoring managed service that incorporates advanced remote monitoring and management techniques to keep your IT system operating efficiently by checking the state of vital computers that drive your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alarm is transmitted immediately to your specified IT staff and your Progent engineering consultant so that any potential issues can be addressed before they can disrupt productivity. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring consulting.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Unified RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software delivers a unified, cloud-based platform for managing your network, server, and desktop devices by offering tools for performing common time-consuming jobs. These include health monitoring, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint configuration, backup and restore, A/V response, secure remote access, standard and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint profile reports, and debugging assistance. When ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM spots a serious incident, it transmits an alert to your specified IT management staff and your assigned Progent technical consultant so that potential problems can be taken care of before they interfere with your network. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop remote monitoring services.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  Progent's ProSight WAN Watch is a network infrastructure management service that makes it easy and inexpensive for small and mid-sized businesses to map out, monitor, reconfigure and debug their networking appliances like switches, firewalls, and wireless controllers as well as servers, endpoints and other devices. Using state-of-the-art Remote Monitoring and Management technology, ProSight WAN Watch ensures that network diagrams are kept updated, captures and manages the configuration information of virtually all devices on your network, monitors performance, and sends alerts when issues are discovered. By automating tedious management and troubleshooting activities, WAN Watch can knock hours off ordinary tasks like network mapping, expanding your network, locating appliances that require important updates, or isolating performance bottlenecks. Find out more details about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure monitoring and management consulting.

• ProSight Reporting: In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding suite of in-depth management reporting tools created to work with the leading ticketing and remote network monitoring applications such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to surface and contextualize key issues like inconsistent support follow-up or machines with out-of-date AVs. By identifying ticketing or network health problems concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves network value, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For more information, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Managed Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with leading backup/restore technology companies to create ProSight Data Protection Services, a family of management offerings that provide backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS products manage and track your backup operations and allow transparent backup and fast restoration of important files/folders, apps, images, and VMs. ProSight DPS lets your business recover from data loss caused by equipment breakdown, natural disasters, fire, cyber attacks like ransomware, user error, malicious employees, or application bugs. Managed backup services in the ProSight DPS product family include ProSight Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight DPS ECHO Backup using Barracuda dedicated storage, and ProSight MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent expert can assist you to identify which of these managed services are best suited for your IT environment.

• ProSight Email Guard: Inbound and Outbound Spam Filtering and Data Leakage Protection
  ProSight Email Guard is Progent's spam and virus filtering and email encryption service that incorporates the infrastructure of leading data security vendors to provide centralized control and world-class security for all your email traffic. The powerful architecture of Progent's Email Guard combines a Cloud Protection Layer with an on-premises gateway device to provide complete protection against spam, viruses, Dos Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks, and other email-borne threats. Email Guard's cloud filter serves as a first line of defense and keeps the vast majority of unwanted email from making it to your network firewall. This decreases your vulnerability to external threats and saves network bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's onsite gateway appliance adds a further level of analysis for incoming email. For outgoing email, the onsite gateway provides AV and anti-spam protection, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The local gateway can also help Microsoft Exchange Server to monitor and protect internal email traffic that originates and ends within your security perimeter. For more details, see Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Protected Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo MFA service plans incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a device that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added form of authentication such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To learn more about Duo identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for access security.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Call Center: Help Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Call Desk services permit your information technology staff to outsource Support Desk services to Progent or divide responsibilities for Help Desk services seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's nationwide roster of IT support engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Shared Help Desk Service offers a transparent extension of your corporate support team. Client interaction with the Help Desk, provision of support services, problem escalation, trouble ticket creation and tracking, efficiency measurement, and management of the service database are cohesive whether incidents are resolved by your corporate support organization, by Progent, or a mix of the two. Find out more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Call Center services.

• Progent Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Detection and Remediation
  Progent's Active Defense Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection (EPP) solution that incorporates next generation behavior-based analysis tools to guard endpoint devices and servers and VMs against new malware attacks such as ransomware and email phishing, which easily escape legacy signature-matching anti-virus tools. Progent ASM services safeguard local and cloud resources and offers a single platform to automate the entire malware attack progression including filtering, infiltration detection, mitigation, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Top capabilities include single-click rollback with Windows VSS and real-time system-wide immunization against new attacks. Find out more about Progent's ransomware defense and cleanup services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service is a cloud-based IT documentation management service that makes it easy to create, update, retrieve and protect data related to your IT infrastructure, procedures, applications, and services. You can instantly find passwords or serial numbers and be warned about impending expirations of SSLs or domains. By cleaning up and managing your network documentation, you can save as much as half of time spent trying to find critical information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a common location for storing and collaborating on all documents related to managing your business network like recommended procedures and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also offers advanced automation for collecting and relating IT data. Whether you're making improvements, doing maintenance, or reacting to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the data you need as soon as you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services
  Progent's managed services for software and firmware patch management provide businesses of all sizes a versatile and cost-effective alternative for assessing, testing, scheduling, applying, and tracking software and firmware updates to your ever-evolving IT network. Besides maximizing the security and functionality of your IT environment, Progent's software/firmware update management services allow your IT staff to focus on line-of-business initiatives and activities that deliver maximum business value from your network. Read more about Progent's patch management services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size organization can have its critical servers and apps hosted in a secure Tier III data center on a fast virtual host set up and managed by Progent's IT support experts. With the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the customer retains ownership of the data, the operating system software, and the applications. Because the system is virtualized, it can be ported easily to a different hardware environment without requiring a time-consuming and difficult reinstallation procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not tied one hosting service. Learn more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection solution that incorporates SentinelOne's next generation behavior machine learning tools to guard physical and virtual endpoint devices against new malware attacks such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which easily evade traditional signature-based anti-virus products. ProSight ASM safeguards local and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to manage the complete malware attack lifecycle including blocking, infiltration detection, mitigation, cleanup, and forensics. Top features include one-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time system-wide immunization against newly discovered threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Physical and Virtual Endpoint Security and Exchange Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) services deliver ultra-affordable multi-layer security for physical and virtual servers, workstations, mobile devices, and Microsoft Exchange. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for round-the-clock monitoring and reacting to cyber threats from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers two-way firewall protection, intrusion alerts, endpoint management, and web filtering through cutting-edge technologies packaged within one agent managed from a unified control. Progent's data protection and virtualization consultants can help your business to design and configure a ProSight ESP deployment that addresses your company's unique needs and that helps you achieve and demonstrate compliance with legal and industry data security standards. Progent will assist you define and configure security policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and respond to alarms that call for immediate action. Progent can also help you to install and verify a backup and disaster recovery system such as ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can get back in business rapidly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack like ransomware. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified endpoint protection and Microsoft Exchange filtering.