Hayward 24x7 Critical Crypto-Ransomware
Malware Detection and Removal Experts

Ransomware : Your Feared IT Disaster
Ransomware has become a too-frequent cyber pandemic that presents an extinction-level threat for businesses poorly prepared for an attack. Versions of crypto-ransomware like the CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been around for a long time and still cause destruction. Modern versions of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, Snatch or Nephilim, as well as daily as yet unnamed viruses, not only do encryption of on-line files but also infiltrate most configured system protection mechanisms. Files synchronized to off-site disaster recovery sites can also be ransomed. In a vulnerable environment, this can render any recovery hopeless and basically knocks the entire system back to square one.

Getting back online services and information after a crypto-ransomware event becomes a race against time as the targeted organization fights to contain, cleanup the ransomware, and restore enterprise-critical activity. Since crypto-ransomware needs time to spread, assaults are usually sprung on weekends and holidays, when successful penetrations tend to take longer to identify. This multiplies the difficulty of promptly mobilizing and organizing a qualified mitigation team.

Progent provides an assortment of help services for protecting businesses from ransomware penetrations. Among these are team training to help identify and avoid phishing attempts, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, along with deployment of modern security appliances with artificial intelligence capabilities from SentinelOne to discover and extinguish new threats automatically. Progent also provides the services of experienced ransomware recovery professionals with the track record and perseverance to re-deploy a compromised network as quickly as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Services
After a ransomware attack, sending the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that criminal gangs will return the keys to unencrypt any or all of your data. Kaspersky ascertained that 17% of ransomware victims never restored their files after having sent off the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The risk is also expensive. Ryuk ransoms are typically several hundred thousand dollars. For larger enterprises, the ransom can reach millions of dollars. The fallback is to setup from scratch the vital components of your IT environment. Without access to full system backups, this requires a wide complement of skill sets, well-coordinated project management, and the willingness to work non-stop until the recovery project is done.

For decades, Progent has made available professional IT services for businesses across the U.S. and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes engineers who have earned high-level industry certifications in key technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity consultants have earned internationally-recognized industry certifications including CISM, CISSP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (See Progent's certifications). Progent in addition has expertise with financial management and ERP applications. This breadth of experience provides Progent the ability to rapidly identify important systems and integrate the remaining components of your network environment following a ransomware event and assemble them into an operational network.

Progent's recovery group deploys best of breed project management tools to orchestrate the complicated restoration process. Progent appreciates the importance of working rapidly and in unison with a client's management and IT staff to assign priority to tasks and to put the most important services back on-line as fast as possible.

Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Attack Response
A small business contacted Progent after their network was crashed by Ryuk crypto-ransomware. Ryuk is believed to have been deployed by North Korean government sponsored criminal gangs, suspected of adopting algorithms leaked from America's National Security Agency. Ryuk seeks specific companies with little or no room for operational disruption and is one of the most lucrative examples of ransomware. Headline victims include Data Resolution, a California-based info warehousing and cloud computing company, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's client is a regional manufacturing company located in Chicago with about 500 staff members. The Ryuk intrusion had paralyzed all company operations and manufacturing processes. Most of the client's data backups had been directly accessible at the start of the attack and were eventually encrypted. The client was taking steps for paying the ransom (exceeding two hundred thousand dollars) and hoping for the best, but in the end reached out to Progent.

Progent worked hand in hand the client to rapidly identify and assign priority to the critical areas that had to be addressed to make it possible to resume company operations:

• Microsoft Active Directory
• Exchange Server
• Financials/MRP

In less than 2 days, Progent was able to restore Active Directory services to its pre-virus state. Progent then helped perform setup and hard drive recovery on key servers. All Exchange data and configuration information were intact, which greatly helped the restore of Exchange. Progent was able to assemble non-encrypted OST data files (Outlook Off-Line Data Files) on various workstations and laptops in order to recover email data. A recent offline backup of the businesses accounting/MRP software made them able to return these essential programs back servicing users. Although a lot of work still had to be done to recover totally from the Ryuk event, the most important systems were returned to operations quickly:

During the following couple of weeks important milestones in the restoration project were completed in tight collaboration between Progent team members and the client:

• In-house web applications were returned to operation without losing any information.
• The MailStore Server exceeding 4 million archived emails was brought on-line and available for users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoices/Accounts Payable (AP)/Accounts Receivables (AR)/Inventory functions were 100% functional.
• A new Palo Alto 850 security appliance was deployed.
• Ninety percent of the desktops and laptops were being used by staff.

Conclusion
A potential company-ending catastrophe was dodged due to dedicated professionals, a broad range of knowledge, and tight teamwork. Although in hindsight the ransomware virus penetration detailed here could have been identified and prevented with current security technology solutions and recognized best practices, staff education, and well thought out security procedures for backup and keeping systems up to date with security patches, the reality remains that government-sponsored cyber criminals from China, North Korea and elsewhere are tireless and will continue. If you do get hit by a ransomware virus, remember that Progent's roster of professionals has extensive experience in ransomware virus defense, removal, and information systems recovery.

To read or download a PDF version of this customer case study, please click:
Progent's Ryuk Virus Recovery Case Study Datasheet. (PDF - 282 KB)

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent can provide companies in Hayward a variety of remote monitoring and security assessment services to help you to reduce the threat from ransomware. These services incorporate next-generation AI capability to uncover new variants of ransomware that are able to get past legacy signature-based anti-virus products.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Monitoring and Management
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring service that incorporates advanced remote monitoring and management (RMM) techniques to keep your IT system running efficiently by tracking the health of critical assets that drive your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alert is transmitted immediately to your designated IT personnel and your assigned Progent consultant so any potential problems can be addressed before they can disrupt your network. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop remote monitoring consulting.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Unified RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software delivers a centralized, cloud-driven solution for monitoring and managing your network, server, and desktop devices by offering an environment for performing common tedious tasks. These include health checking, patch management, automated repairs, endpoint configuration, backup and restore, A/V response, remote access, standard and custom scripts, resource inventory, endpoint status reporting, and debugging assistance. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM spots a serious issue, it sends an alarm to your designated IT management personnel and your Progent consultant so emerging issues can be fixed before they impact productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop remote monitoring services.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Infrastructure Management
  Progent's ProSight WAN Watch is an infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it easy and affordable for smaller businesses to map out, track, enhance and debug their connectivity hardware such as routers and switches, firewalls, and load balancers plus servers, printers, client computers and other networked devices. Incorporating cutting-edge RMM technology, WAN Watch ensures that infrastructure topology diagrams are always current, captures and manages the configuration information of almost all devices connected to your network, monitors performance, and generates notices when issues are discovered. By automating time-consuming management and troubleshooting processes, ProSight WAN Watch can knock hours off common tasks like making network diagrams, reconfiguring your network, locating devices that require important software patches, or resolving performance issues. Find out more details about ProSight WAN Watch network infrastructure management consulting.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time and In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is a growing family of real-time and in-depth management reporting tools designed to work with the industry's leading ticketing and remote network monitoring platforms such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and features color coding to highlight and contextualize key issues such as spotty support follow-through or endpoints with missing patches. By exposing ticketing or network health problems concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting enhances network value, lowers management overhead, and saves money. For details, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has partnered with leading backup software providers to produce ProSight Data Protection Services, a selection of subscription-based management offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS services automate and monitor your data backup processes and allow non-disruptive backup and fast recovery of critical files/folders, apps, images, and virtual machines. ProSight DPS lets your business protect against data loss caused by hardware failures, natural calamities, fire, cyber attacks like ransomware, user mistakes, ill-intentioned insiders, or software glitches. Managed backup services available in the ProSight Data Protection Services product line include ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight DPS ECHO Backup based on Barracuda purpose-built storage, and ProSight MSP360 Cloud and On-prem Backup. Your Progent service representative can help you to determine which of these fully managed backup services are most appropriate for your IT environment.

• ProSight Email Guard: Inbound and Outbound Spam Filtering and Data Leakage Protection
  ProSight Email Guard is Progent's spam and virus filtering and email encryption service that uses the infrastructure of top data security companies to provide web-based management and world-class security for your inbound and outbound email. The hybrid architecture of Email Guard managed service combines cloud-based filtering with an on-premises gateway device to provide complete defense against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks, DHAs, and other email-based threats. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer acts as a first line of defense and keeps the vast majority of unwanted email from reaching your security perimeter. This reduces your vulnerability to external threats and saves system bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's on-premises security gateway device adds a deeper level of analysis for incoming email. For outbound email, the on-premises security gateway offers AV and anti-spam protection, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The local security gateway can also help Exchange Server to monitor and protect internal email traffic that originates and ends inside your security perimeter. For more information, visit ProSight Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: ID Confirmation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Protected Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo MFA service plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to verify who you are on a device that only you possess and that uses a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used for this added means of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Call Center: Call Center Managed Services
  Progent's Support Center managed services allow your information technology team to offload Call Center services to Progent or divide responsibilities for support services transparently between your in-house network support staff and Progent's extensive roster of IT support technicians, engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's Shared Service Desk provides a seamless supplement to your internal IT support group. User access to the Help Desk, delivery of support services, problem escalation, trouble ticket creation and updates, performance metrics, and management of the support database are consistent whether incidents are resolved by your in-house IT support organization, by Progent, or both. Learn more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Help Desk services.

• Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Detection and Cleanup
  Progent's Active Defense Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection (EPP) solution that incorporates next generation behavior-based analysis tools to defend endpoint devices as well as physical and virtual servers against modern malware attacks such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely evade traditional signature-based anti-virus tools. Progent ASM services safeguard on-premises and cloud resources and offers a unified platform to address the complete threat lifecycle including filtering, infiltration detection, mitigation, cleanup, and forensics. Top features include single-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time network-wide immunization against new attacks. Learn more about Progent's ransomware protection and cleanup services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  ProSight IT Asset Management service is an IT infrastructure documentation management service that makes it easy to create, update, find and protect data about your network infrastructure, processes, applications, and services. You can quickly locate passwords or serial numbers and be alerted about impending expirations of SSL certificates or domains. By updating and organizing your network documentation, you can eliminate up to half of time spent searching for critical information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a centralized location for holding and collaborating on all documents related to managing your network infrastructure such as standard operating procedures (SOPs) and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports a high level of automation for gathering and relating IT data. Whether you're planning enhancements, doing regular maintenance, or reacting to an emergency, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the data you need the instant you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services
  Progent's managed services for patch management provide businesses of all sizes a flexible and affordable alternative for assessing, validating, scheduling, implementing, and tracking updates to your ever-evolving information system. In addition to maximizing the security and reliability of your IT environment, Progent's patch management services allow your IT staff to focus on more strategic projects and tasks that deliver maximum business value from your network. Learn more about Progent's software/firmware update management support services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's Tier III Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small organization can have its key servers and applications hosted in a protected Tier III data center on a fast virtual host configured and maintained by Progent's network support experts. With the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the customer retains ownership of the data, the operating system platforms, and the applications. Since the system is virtualized, it can be moved easily to an alternate hardware solution without requiring a time-consuming and technically risky reinstallation procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not locked into one hosting provider. Learn more details about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection service that utilizes SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior-based analysis technology to defend physical and virtual endpoint devices against new malware assaults like ransomware and email phishing, which easily get by traditional signature-matching AV products. ProSight Active Security Monitoring safeguards local and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to automate the entire threat progression including protection, identification, containment, remediation, and forensics. Key capabilities include single-click rollback with Windows VSS and real-time network-wide immunization against new attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP): Endpoint Protection and Exchange Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) managed services deliver ultra-affordable multi-layer security for physical servers and VMs, workstations, mobile devices, and Exchange Server. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for round-the-clock monitoring and reacting to cyber assaults from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers firewall protection, penetration alarms, endpoint control, and web filtering through cutting-edge technologies packaged within one agent managed from a unified control. Progent's security and virtualization consultants can help your business to design and configure a ProSight ESP environment that addresses your company's specific needs and that allows you prove compliance with legal and industry data security regulations. Progent will assist you specify and implement policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and react to alerts that call for immediate attention. Progent can also assist you to install and verify a backup and disaster recovery solution such as ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover rapidly from a destructive cyber attack such as ransomware. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified endpoint security and Microsoft Exchange email filtering.