Cleveland Ransomware Prevention and Recovery Expertise

Ransomware has been widely adopted by cyber extortionists and malicious governments, posing a possibly lethal threat to businesses that are successfully attacked. Current versions of crypto-ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including backup, making even partial recovery a complex and expensive process. New strains of crypto-ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, DopplePaymer, Conti and Nephilim have emerged, replacing Locky, Spora, and CryptoWall in notoriety, sophistication, and destructive impact.

90% of crypto-ransomware penetrations are the result of innocent-seeming emails with malicious hyperlinks or attachments, and a high percentage are "zero-day" variants that elude the defenses of traditional signature-matching antivirus tools. Although user training and frontline detection are important to protect your network against ransomware attacks, best practices dictate that you expect that some attacks will inevitably succeed and that you deploy a solid backup mechanism that enables you to repair the damage rapidly with little if any losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Checkup is a low-cost service centered around an online discussion with a Progent cybersecurity expert experienced in ransomware protection and recovery. In the course of this interview Progent will cooperate directly with your Cleveland IT management staff to collect pertinent data concerning your cybersecurity profile and backup processes. Progent will utilize this information to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Report detailing how to follow leading practices for implementing and administering your cybersecurity and backup solution to prevent or clean up after a crypto-ransomware attack.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report highlights vital issues related to crypto-ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The report covers:

Security

• Correct allocation and use of admin accounts
• Assigning NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB authorizations
• Proper firewall configuration
• Safe Remote Desktop Protocol access
• Guidance for AntiVirus filtering selection and deployment

• Split permission architecture for backup integrity
• Backing up critical servers such as AD
• Offsite backups with cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts or steals files so they are unusable or are publicized. Ransomware sometimes locks the victim's computer. To avoid the damage, the target is asked to send a certain amount of money (the ransom), usually via a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a brief time window. There is no guarantee that delivering the ransom will restore the damaged data or prevent its exposure to the public. Files can be encrypted or deleted across a network depending on the target's write permissions, and you cannot break the military-grade encryption technologies used on the compromised files. A typical ransomware delivery package is booby-trapped email, whereby the user is tricked into interacting with by means of a social engineering technique known as spear phishing. This causes the email to appear to come from a familiar source. Another common vulnerability is an improperly protected RDP port.

CryptoLocker opened the modern era of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different versions of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars per year, more than doubling every other year. Notorious attacks include WannaCry, and Petya. Current headline variants like Ryuk, Sodinokibi and Cerber are more complex and have caused more havoc than earlier versions. Even if your backup processes allow your business to recover your encrypted files, you can still be threatened by so-called exfiltration, where ransomed documents are exposed to the public (known as "doxxing"). Because additional versions of ransomware crop up daily, there is no certainty that conventional signature-matching anti-virus tools will detect a new attack. If an attack does appear in an email, it is important that your users have been taught to be aware of social engineering tricks. Your last line of defense is a solid process for performing and keeping remote backups plus the use of reliable recovery tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Susceptibility Checkup in Cleveland
For pricing details and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Susceptibility Consultation can bolster your protection against ransomware in Cleveland, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.