Ransomware Hot Line: 800-462-8800
24x7 Online Help from a Senior Ransomware Consultant
Ransomware requires time to work its way through a target network. For this reason, ransomware attacks are commonly unleashed on weekends and late at night, when support staff are likely to take longer to recognize a break-in and are less able to mount a rapid and coordinated response. The more lateral progress ransomware is able to achieve within a victim's system, the longer it takes to restore core operations and scrambled files and the more information can be stolen and posted to the dark web.
Progent's Ransomware Hot Line is intended to assist you to take the urgent first step in mitigating a ransomware assault by putting out the fire. Progent's remote ransomware experts can assist businesses in the Des Moines metro area to identify and quarantine breached servers and endpoints and protect clean resources from being penetrated.
If your system has been penetrated by any strain of ransomware, don't panic. Get help quickly by calling Progent's Ransomware Hot Line at 800-462-8800.
Progent's Ransomware Response Services Offered in Des Moines
Current strains of crypto-ransomware such as Ryuk, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, and Egregor encrypt online files and infiltrate any accessible system restores and backups. Files synched to the cloud can also be corrupted. For a vulnerable network, this can make system recovery nearly impossible and basically sets the IT system back to the beginning. Threat Actors, the cybercriminals behind a ransomware assault, insist on a settlement payment in exchange for the decryption tools required to recover encrypted data. Ransomware assaults also attempt to exfiltrate files and TAs demand an extra ransom in exchange for not publishing this data on the dark web. Even if you are able to rollback your network to a tolerable date in time, exfiltration can pose a major problem depending on the nature of the stolen information.
The recovery process after a ransomware attack involves a number of distinct stages, most of which can be performed in parallel if the recovery workgroup has enough people with the required experience.
- Quarantine: This time-critical initial step involves blocking the sideways progress of the attack within your network. The more time a ransomware attack is allowed to run unrestricted, the longer and more costly the restoration effort. Because of this, Progent maintains a 24x7 Ransomware Hotline staffed by veteran ransomware response engineers. Containment processes include cutting off infected endpoints from the rest of network to restrict the contagion, documenting the IT system, and securing entry points.
- System continuity: This covers restoring the network to a minimal useful degree of capability with the shortest possible downtime. This effort is typically the highest priority for the targets of the ransomware assault, who often see it as an existential issue for their company. This project also requires the broadest array of technical skills that cover domain controllers, DHCP servers, physical and virtual machines, desktops, notebooks and mobile phones, databases, office and mission-critical apps, network architecture, and protected endpoint access. Progent's ransomware recovery team uses advanced collaboration tools to organize the complex restoration effort. Progent appreciates the urgency of working rapidly, continuously, and in unison with a customer's management and network support staff to prioritize activity and to get critical services on line again as quickly as feasible.
- Data recovery: The effort required to recover files damaged by a ransomware attack varies according to the state of the systems, how many files are affected, and what recovery techniques are needed. Ransomware assaults can take down critical databases which, if not gracefully closed, might have to be reconstructed from the beginning. This can apply to DNS and Active Directory databases. Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server depend on Active Directory, and many ERP and other mission-critical platforms depend on SQL Server. Often some detective work could be required to find undamaged data. For instance, non-encrypted OST files (Outlook Email Offline Folder Files) may have survived on staff desktop computers and laptops that were not connected during the attack. Progent's Altaro VM Backup experts can help you to deploy immutable backup for cloud object storage, enabling tamper-proof data for a set duration so that backup data cannot be erased or modified by any user including root users. Immutable storage adds an extra level of protection and restoration ability in case of a ransomware breach.
- Implementing advanced antivirus/ransomware protection: Progent's ProSight ASM incorporates SentinelOne's behavioral analysis technology to offer small and mid-sized businesses the benefits of the same AV tools implemented by many of the world's largest enterprises including Netflix, Citi, and Salesforce. By providing in-line malware blocking, identification, mitigation, recovery and forensics in a single integrated platform, ProSight ASM reduces TCO, simplifies management, and promotes rapid resumption of operations. SentinelOne's next-generation endpoint protection (NGEP) incorporated in ProSight Active Security Monitoring was listed by Gartner Group as the industry's "most visionary Endpoint Protection Platform." Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Learn about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware recovery with SentinelOne technology.
- Negotiating a settlement with the threat actor (TA): Progent has experience negotiating ransom settlements with hackers. This requires working closely with the victim and the cyber insurance provider, if any. Services consist of determining the kind of ransomware involved in the attack; identifying and establishing communications the hacker; verifying decryption capabilities; deciding on a settlement amount with the victim and the insurance carrier; establishing a settlement and schedule with the TA; confirming compliance with anti-money laundering sanctions; overseeing the crypto-currency disbursement to the TA; acquiring, learning, and operating the decryptor utility; troubleshooting decryption problems; building a clean environment; remapping and connecting datastores to match exactly their pre-encryption condition; and reprovisioning physical and virtual devices and software services.
- Forensic analysis: This activity involves uncovering the ransomware attack's storyline throughout the network from start to finish. This history of how a ransomware attack travelled within the network assists your IT staff to assess the impact and brings to light shortcomings in policies or processes that should be rectified to prevent later break-ins. Forensics entails the examination of all logs, registry, Group Policy Object, Active Directory, DNS, routers, firewalls, schedulers, and core Windows systems to check for anomalies. Forensics is usually assigned a high priority by the insurance carrier. Since forensic analysis can be time consuming, it is essential that other key activities such as operational resumption are pursued in parallel. Progent maintains a large roster of IT and data security professionals with the skills needed to carry out the work of containment, operational continuity, and data restoration without interfering with forensic analysis.
Progent's Background
Progent has delivered online and onsite IT services across the United States for more than two decades and has been awarded Microsoft's Gold Partner designation in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity practice areas. Progent's roster of SMEs includes professionals who have been awarded high-level certifications in foundation technology platforms including Cisco networking, VMware virtualization, and popular Linux distros. Progent's data security consultants have earned industry-recognized certifications such as CISA, CISSP-ISSAP, and GIAC. (See Progent's certifications). Progent also offers guidance in financial management and Enterprise Resource Planning applications. This breadth of skills allows Progent to identify and integrate the surviving parts of your IT environment after a ransomware intrusion and reconstruct them quickly into a functioning network. Progent has collaborated with leading cyber insurance providers like Chubb to help businesses recover from ransomware assaults.
Contact Progent for Ransomware System Restoration Consulting in Des Moines
For ransomware recovery services in the Des Moines metro area, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.