Ransomware Hot Line: 800-462-8800
24x7 Online Help from a Top-tier Ransomware Consultant
Ransomware needs time to steal its way through a target network. For this reason, ransomware assaults are commonly unleashed on weekends and at night, when support personnel are likely to be slower to recognize a breach and are least able to organize a quick and forceful defense. The more lateral movement ransomware is able to achieve inside a victim's network, the more time it will require to recover basic IT services and damaged files and the more data can be stolen and posted to the dark web.
Progent's Ransomware Hot Line is designed to help you to complete the time-critical first phase in mitigating a ransomware assault by stopping the bleeding. Progent's remote ransomware experts can help organizations in the Edmonton metro area to identify and quarantine infected servers and endpoints and protect clean assets from being compromised.
If your network has been penetrated by any version of ransomware, don't panic. Get help quickly by calling Progent's Ransomware Hot Line at 800-462-8800.
Progent's Ransomware Response Services Available in Edmonton
Modern strains of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Netwalker, and Nephilim encrypt online files and attack any available system restores. Files synched to the cloud can also be corrupted. For a vulnerable network, this can make automated recovery almost impossible and basically knocks the datacenter back to the beginning. Threat Actors (TAs), the cybercriminals behind a ransomware attack, insist on a settlement fee for the decryption tools needed to recover scrambled files. Ransomware attacks also try to steal (or "exfiltrate") files and TAs demand an extra payment in exchange for not publishing this information or selling it. Even if you are able to rollback your network to a tolerable point in time, exfiltration can be a big problem according to the sensitivity of the stolen data.
The recovery process subsequent to ransomware attack has several distinct stages, the majority of which can be performed concurrently if the recovery workgroup has enough people with the necessary experience.
- Containment: This time-critical initial step involves arresting the lateral spread of the attack across your network. The longer a ransomware assault is permitted to run unchecked, the more complex and more expensive the restoration process. Because of this, Progent maintains a 24x7 Ransomware Hotline staffed by seasoned ransomware response engineers. Quarantine activities include isolating affected endpoint devices from the network to minimize the spread, documenting the environment, and securing entry points.
- Operational continuity: This covers bringing back the IT system to a basic acceptable degree of functionality with the shortest possible downtime. This effort is typically the top priority for the targets of the ransomware attack, who often see it as a life-or-death issue for their company. This project also requires the widest array of IT skills that cover domain controllers, DHCP servers, physical and virtual servers, desktops, laptops and mobile phones, databases, productivity and line-of-business applications, network topology, and secure endpoint access. Progent's recovery experts use state-of-the-art collaboration platforms to coordinate the complicated recovery process. Progent understands the urgency of working rapidly, continuously, and in concert with a customer's management and IT staff to prioritize activity and to get critical services back online as quickly as feasible.
- Data restoration: The work required to restore data damaged by a ransomware attack depends on the state of the systems, the number of files that are affected, and what restore techniques are needed. Ransomware assaults can destroy key databases which, if not carefully shut down, might have to be rebuilt from scratch. This can include DNS and AD databases. Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server rely on Active Directory, and many financial and other business-critical applications are powered by SQL Server. Some detective work may be required to find undamaged data. For example, non-encrypted OST files may exist on employees' desktop computers and notebooks that were off line at the time of the attack.
- Implementing advanced AV/ransomware defense: Progent's ProSight ASM utilizes SentinelOne's behavioral analysis technology to give small and mid-sized companies the advantages of the same AV technology deployed by many of the world's largest corporations such as Walmart, Visa, and NASDAQ. By delivering in-line malware blocking, classification, mitigation, restoration and analysis in one integrated platform, Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring reduces total cost of ownership, simplifies management, and promotes rapid resumption of operations. SentinelOne's next-generation endpoint protection engine built into in Progent's Active Security Monitoring was listed by Gartner Group as the "most visionary Endpoint Protection Platform." Progent is a certified SentinelOne Partner. Learn about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware defense with SentinelOne technology.
- Negotiation with the threat actor (TA): Progent has experience negotiating settlements with hackers. This requires close co-operation with the ransomware victim and the cyber insurance carrier, if there is one. Activities include determining the kind of ransomware used in the assault; identifying and establishing communications the hacker; verifying decryption tool; deciding on a settlement with the ransomware victim and the cyber insurance carrier; establishing a settlement amount and timeline with the hacker; checking adherence to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations; overseeing the crypto-currency payment to the TA; receiving, learning, and operating the decryption tool; debugging decryption problems; building a clean environment; remapping and connecting datastores to match precisely their pre-attack condition; and reprovisioning computers and services.
- Forensic analysis: This process involves learning the ransomware attack's storyline across the targeted network from beginning to end. This history of how a ransomware attack travelled within the network helps you to assess the damage and highlights shortcomings in rules or processes that need to be corrected to prevent later breaches. Forensics entails the review of all logs, registry, Group Policy Object (GPO), AD, DNS, routers, firewalls, schedulers, and core Windows systems to detect changes. Forensics is commonly given a high priority by the insurance provider. Because forensic analysis can be time consuming, it is vital that other key recovery processes such as operational resumption are executed in parallel. Progent has a large roster of IT and cybersecurity experts with the skills required to perform activities for containment, business resumption, and data recovery without interfering with forensic analysis.
Progent's Background
Progent has provided online and onsite IT services across the U.S. for more than two decades and has been awarded Microsoft's Gold Partner certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity practice areas. Progent's team of SMEs includes professionals who have been awarded high-level certifications in core technologies including Cisco infrastructure, VMware, and major Linux distros. Progent's data security consultants have earned internationally recognized certifications including CISA, CISSP, and CRISC. (See certifications earned by Progent consultants). Progent also has guidance in financial management and ERP applications. This scope of expertise gives Progent the ability to salvage and integrate the undamaged parts of your IT environment after a ransomware assault and reconstruct them rapidly into a viable network. Progent has worked with top cyber insurance carriers including Chubb to help organizations clean up after ransomware assaults.
Contact Progent for Ransomware System Recovery Services in Edmonton
For ransomware system restoration expertise in the Edmonton area, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.