Charleston Ransomware Prevention and Recovery Services

Ransomware has been widely adopted by the major cyber-crime organizations and bad-actor states, posing a possibly existential threat to companies that are breached. Modern versions of ransomware go after everything, including backup, making even selective recovery a complex and costly process. Novel versions of crypto-ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Mailto (aka Netwalker), DopplePaymer, Conti and Nephilim have made the headlines, displacing Locky, Spora, and NotPetya in prominence, elaborateness, and destructiveness.

90% of crypto-ransomware penetrations are the result of innocuous-seeming emails that have dangerous hyperlinks or file attachments, and a high percentage are "zero-day" attacks that elude detection by legacy signature-matching antivirus filters. Although user education and frontline identification are important to defend against ransomware attacks, best practices demand that you expect that some attacks will inevitably succeed and that you prepare a solid backup solution that allows you to restore files and services rapidly with minimal damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Checkup is an ultra-affordable service centered around a remote interview with a Progent security consultant skilled in ransomware defense and recovery. In the course of this assessment Progent will collaborate directly with your Charleston IT management staff to gather pertinent data about your cybersecurity posture and backup processes. Progent will use this information to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment detailing how to apply leading practices for configuring and managing your security and backup systems to block or clean up after a ransomware attack.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report focuses on vital areas related to crypto-ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The report covers:

Security

• Proper allocation and use of admin accounts
• Correct NTFS and SMB authorizations
• Proper firewall configuration
• Secure Remote Desktop Protocol access
• Recommend AntiVirus (AV) filtering identification and configuration

• Split permission architecture for backup protection
• Protecting key servers such as Active Directory
• Offsite backups including cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a variety of malware that encrypts or deletes files so they are unusable or are publicized. Crypto-ransomware often locks the victim's computer. To prevent the carnage, the target is asked to send a specified amount of money, usually in the form of a crypto currency such as Bitcoin, within a short period of time. There is no guarantee that delivering the extortion price will restore the lost data or prevent its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or deleted across a network depending on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot reverse engineer the strong encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A common ransomware attack vector is spoofed email, whereby the victim is tricked into interacting with by means of a social engineering exploit known as spear phishing. This makes the email message to look as though it came from a trusted source. Another common vulnerability is a poorly protected Remote Desktop Protocol port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker ushered in the modern era of crypto-ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses attributed to by different versions of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars annually, roughly doubling every other year. Notorious examples include Locky, and Petya. Recent headline variants like Ryuk, DoppelPaymer and CryptoWall are more sophisticated and have caused more havoc than older versions. Even if your backup/recovery processes permit your business to restore your ransomed files, you can still be threatened by exfiltration, where ransomed data are made public. Because additional variants of ransomware crop up daily, there is no guarantee that conventional signature-based anti-virus tools will detect a new attack. If threat does show up in an email, it is critical that your users have been taught to be aware of social engineering techniques. Your ultimate defense is a sound process for performing and keeping remote backups and the use of dependable restoration tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Readiness Assessment in Charleston
For pricing details and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Susceptibility Evaluation can bolster your defense against crypto-ransomware in Charleston, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.