Ransomware Hot Line: 800-462-8800
24x7 Online Help from a Top-tier Ransomware Engineer
Ransomware needs time to steal its way through a target network. For this reason, ransomware attacks are commonly unleashed on weekends and late at night, when support staff may take longer to recognize a break-in and are less able to organize a rapid and forceful response. The more lateral movement ransomware is able to manage inside a victim's system, the longer it takes to recover basic operations and damaged files and the more information can be stolen and posted to the dark web.
Progent's Ransomware Hot Line is intended to guide organizations to complete the time-critical first phase in mitigating a ransomware assault by putting out the fire. Progent's remote ransomware experts can assist organizations in the Sandy Springs area to locate and quarantine infected devices and guard undamaged assets from being compromised.
If your system has been breached 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 Offered in Sandy Springs
Modern strains of crypto-ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Netwalker, and Nephilim encrypt online files and invade any accessible system restores and backups. Files synched to the cloud can also be impacted. For a poorly defended network, this can make system restoration nearly impossible and basically throws the IT system back to the beginning. Threat Actors (TAs), the hackers behind a ransomware assault, insist on a settlement payment in exchange for the decryption tools needed to unlock scrambled files. Ransomware attacks also attempt to exfiltrate files and hackers demand an additional payment for not publishing this data on the dark web. Even if you are able to restore your system to an acceptable point in time, exfiltration can pose a major problem according to the nature of the stolen data.
The recovery work subsequent to ransomware penetration has a number of crucial phases, the majority of which can proceed in parallel if the recovery workgroup has enough people with the required experience.
- Quarantine: This time-critical first step requires blocking the lateral progress of ransomware within your IT system. The longer a ransomware attack is allowed to go unchecked, the longer and more costly the recovery effort. Because of this, Progent keeps a round-the-clock Ransomware Hotline staffed by veteran ransomware recovery experts. Quarantine activities include cutting off affected endpoint devices from the network to restrict the contagion, documenting the environment, and securing entry points.
- System continuity: This involves restoring the network to a minimal acceptable degree of functionality with the shortest possible downtime. This process is usually at the highest level of urgency for the victims of the ransomware assault, who often perceive it to be a life-or-death issue for their business. This activity also requires the widest range of technical abilities that span domain controllers, DHCP servers, physical and virtual servers, desktops, notebooks and smart phones, databases, productivity and mission-critical apps, network architecture, and safe remote access. Progent's recovery experts use state-of-the-art collaboration platforms to organize the complicated restoration effort. Progent appreciates the urgency of working quickly, continuously, and in unison with a customer's management and network support staff to prioritize tasks and to get essential resources on line again as fast as feasible.
- Data restoration: The effort necessary to recover data damaged by a ransomware assault depends on the condition of the systems, how many files are encrypted, and what recovery techniques are needed. Ransomware assaults can take down pivotal databases which, if not gracefully closed, may have to be rebuilt from the beginning. This can include DNS and Active Directory databases. Exchange and SQL Server rely on AD, and many manufacturing and other business-critical platforms depend on SQL Server. Some detective work could be required to find clean data. For instance, undamaged OST files may have survived on employees' PCs and laptops that were off line during the ransomware attack. Progent's Altaro VM Backup experts can assist you to utilize immutability for cloud storage, allowing tamper-proof data for a set duration so that backup data cannot be erased or modified by anyone including root users. Immutable storage provides another level of protection and recoverability in case of a successful ransomware attack.
- Implementing advanced AV/ransomware defense: Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring uses SentinelOne's machine learning technology to give small and medium-sized companies the advantages of the same anti-virus technology deployed by some of the world's biggest corporations including Netflix, Visa, and NASDAQ. By providing in-line malware blocking, detection, containment, repair and analysis in one integrated platform, Progent's ASM cuts total cost of ownership, simplifies administration, and expedites resumption of operations. SentinelOne's next-generation endpoint protection (NGEP) built into in Progent's Active Security Monitoring was listed by Gartner Group as the industry's "most visionary Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)." Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Find out about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) endpoint protection and ransomware defense with SentinelOne technology.
- Negotiating a settlement with the threat actor (TA): Progent is experienced in negotiating ransom settlements with hackers. This calls for close co-operation with the victim and the cyber insurance carrier, if there is one. Services include establishing the kind of ransomware involved in the assault; identifying and making contact with the hacker persona; verifying decryption capabilities; budgeting a settlement amount with the ransomware victim and the cyber insurance provider; negotiating a settlement amount and timeline with the TA; checking adherence to anti-money laundering sanctions; overseeing the crypto-currency disbursement to the TA; acquiring, learning, and operating the decryptor utility; troubleshooting decryption problems; creating a clean environment; remapping and connecting drives to reflect precisely their pre-attack state; and restoring machines and software services.
- Forensics: This process involves learning the ransomware attack's progress throughout the network from start to finish. This audit trail of the way a ransomware attack travelled through the network assists you to evaluate the impact and brings to light shortcomings in policies or processes that need to be rectified to avoid future breaches. Forensics involves the review of all logs, registry, Group Policy Object, Active Directory (AD), DNS servers, routers, firewalls, schedulers, and core Windows systems to detect changes. Forensics is typically given a top priority by the insurance carrier. Since forensic analysis can take time, it is vital that other key recovery processes like operational continuity are executed in parallel. Progent has a large team of information technology and data security experts with the skills needed to perform activities for containment, operational continuity, and data recovery without interfering with forensics.
Progent's Qualifications
Progent has provided online and on-premises IT services across the U.S. for over two decades and has been awarded Microsoft's Gold Partner certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of SMEs includes consultants who have earned high-level certifications in foundation technologies including Cisco networking, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity consultants have earned industry-recognized certifications including CISM, CISSP-ISSAP, and CRISC. (See certifications earned by Progent consultants). Progent also has guidance in financial and ERP applications. This broad array of expertise allows Progent to identify and integrate the surviving pieces of your network after a ransomware attack and reconstruct them rapidly into an operational system. Progent has worked with top insurance providers like Chubb to help organizations recover from ransomware attacks.
Contact Progent for Ransomware System Recovery Expertise in Sandy Springs
For ransomware system restoration consulting in the Sandy Springs area, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or go to Contact Progent.