Chandler Ransomware Protection and Cleanup Consulting

Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for cybercriminals and malicious governments, posing a potentially existential risk to companies that are breached. Modern variations of crypto-ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including backup, making even partial restoration a challenging and costly process. New variations of crypto-ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Phobos, Conti and Nephilim have made the headlines, replacing Locky, Cerber, and Petya in notoriety, elaborateness, and destructive impact.

Most ransomware penetrations are caused by innocuous-seeming emails that have malicious hyperlinks or attachments, and a high percentage are "zero-day" attacks that can escape the defenses of legacy signature-matching antivirus filters. While user training and up-front identification are important to defend your network against ransomware attacks, best practices dictate that you take for granted some attacks will inevitably get through and that you implement a strong backup solution that enables you to repair the damage rapidly with little if any damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Assessment is an ultra-affordable service centered around a remote discussion with a Progent cybersecurity expert experienced in ransomware defense and repair. In the course of this interview Progent will collaborate with your Chandler network management staff to collect critical data concerning your cybersecurity configuration and backup processes. Progent will utilize this information to produce a Basic Security and Best Practices Report detailing how to adhere to best practices for configuring and managing your cybersecurity and backup solution to block or recover from a crypto-ransomware attack.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report highlights vital areas associated with ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The report addresses:

Security

• Proper allocation and use of admin accounts
• Appropriate NTFS and SMB (Server Message Block) authorizations
• Proper firewall configuration
• Secure RDP access
• Guidance for AntiVirus (AV) filtering identification and deployment

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

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts or steals files so they are unusable or are made publicly available. Ransomware sometimes locks the victim's computer. To avoid the carnage, the victim is asked to send a certain amount of money, typically in the form of a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a brief period of time. It is never certain that paying the extortion price will recover the damaged data or avoid its publication. Files can be altered or deleted across a network depending on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot reverse engineer the strong encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A common ransomware delivery package is spoofed email, whereby the victim is tricked into interacting with by a social engineering technique called spear phishing. This causes the email message to appear to come from a trusted sender. Another common vulnerability is a poorly secured Remote Desktop Protocol port.

CryptoLocker ushered in the modern era of ransomware in 2013, and the damage caused by different versions of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars per year, roughly doubling every other year. Notorious attacks include Locky, and Petya. Recent high-profile variants like Ryuk, Sodinokibi and TeslaCrypt are more complex and have wreaked more damage than older versions. Even if your backup procedures enable your business to recover your ransomed files, you can still be threatened by so-called exfiltration, where ransomed documents are made public (known as "doxxing"). Because new versions of ransomware are launched every day, there is no certainty that traditional signature-matching anti-virus tools will block the latest malware. If an attack does show up in an email, it is important that your end users have learned to be aware of phishing tricks. Your ultimate defense is a sound process for performing and retaining remote backups plus the use of dependable recovery tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Checkup in Chandler
For pricing information and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Evaluation can enhance your defense against crypto-ransomware in Chandler, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.