Charlotte Ransomware Prevention and Recovery Consulting

Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for cyber extortionists and rogue states, posing a possibly lethal threat to businesses that are breached. Current versions of ransomware go after everything, including backup, making even selective restoration a challenging and expensive process. New versions of crypto-ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Phobos, Conti and Egregor have emerged, displacing WannaCry, Cerber, and Petya in prominence, sophistication, and destructive impact.

90% of ransomware breaches come from innocent-looking emails that have malicious links or file attachments, and many are "zero-day" variants that can escape detection by legacy signature-based antivirus (AV) filters. While user training and up-front detection are important to protect your network against ransomware attacks, best practices demand that you take for granted some attacks will inevitably get through and that you implement a strong backup mechanism that permits you to recover quickly with little if any losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Checkup is an ultra-affordable service centered around a remote discussion with a Progent security expert skilled in ransomware defense and repair. During this assessment Progent will cooperate with your Charlotte IT managers to collect pertinent data concerning your security profile and backup environment. Progent will utilize this information to generate a Basic Security and Best Practices Report detailing how to apply leading practices for implementing and administering your security and backup solution to prevent or recover from a ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment highlights vital areas associated with ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The report addresses:

Cybersecurity

• Proper allocation and use of administration accounts
• Assigning NTFS and SMB permissions
• Proper firewall setup
• Safe Remote Desktop Protocol configuration
• Recommend AntiVirus (AV) tools selection and configuration

• Split permission architecture for backup protection
• Protecting required servers including Active Directory
• Geographically dispersed backups including cloud backup to Microsoft Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts or steals files so they cannot be used or are publicized. Ransomware often locks the victim's computer. To avoid the carnage, the victim is asked to pay a certain ransom, usually in the form of a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a short time window. It is not guaranteed that delivering the ransom will restore the lost files or prevent its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or erased across a network depending on the target's write permissions, and you cannot break the strong encryption technologies used on the compromised files. A typical ransomware delivery package is booby-trapped email, whereby the user is tricked into interacting with by a social engineering technique called spear phishing. This causes the email to appear to come from a trusted source. Another common vulnerability is a poorly protected RDP port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker opened the modern era of crypto-ransomware in 2013, and the damage caused by the many strains of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars annually, roughly doubling every other year. Famous attacks include Locky, and Petya. Current high-profile variants like Ryuk, Sodinokibi and CryptoWall are more sophisticated and have caused more damage than earlier strains. Even if your backup processes allow you to recover your encrypted files, you can still be threatened by so-called exfiltration, where stolen data are made public. Because new variants of ransomware are launched every day, there is no certainty that traditional signature-matching anti-virus filters will detect the latest malware. If threat does show up in an email, it is critical that your users have learned to identify phishing techniques. Your last line of defense is a solid scheme for performing and keeping offsite backups plus the use of reliable recovery tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Consultation in Charlotte
For pricing information and to learn more about how Progent's ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Testing can enhance your protection against crypto-ransomware in Charlotte, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.