24-Hour Jersey City Immediate Ransomware
Infection Damage Assessment and Restoration Experts

Crypto-Ransomware : Your Crippling IT Nightmare
Ransomware has become a too-frequent cyber pandemic that presents an extinction-level threat for businesses vulnerable to an attack. Versions of crypto-ransomware such as Reveton, CryptoWall, Bad Rabbit, NotPetya and MongoLock cryptoworms have been replicating for a long time and continue to cause destruction. The latest strains of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Snatch or Egregor, plus more as yet unnamed viruses, not only do encryption of online data files but also infiltrate most configured system restores and backups. Information replicated to the cloud can also be ransomed. In a poorly designed environment, it can make automatic recovery hopeless and basically sets the datacenter back to zero.

Getting back applications and information following a ransomware intrusion becomes a race against time as the targeted organization tries its best to stop the spread, cleanup the ransomware, and resume mission-critical operations. Due to the fact that ransomware requires time to spread, penetrations are frequently sprung at night, when penetrations in many cases take longer to discover. This compounds the difficulty of rapidly assembling and orchestrating an experienced mitigation team.

Progent provides an assortment of solutions for protecting businesses from crypto-ransomware penetrations. Among these are team member education to help identify and avoid phishing exploits, ProSight Active Security Monitoring for remote monitoring and management, along with installation of next-generation security solutions with AI technology from SentinelOne to detect and quarantine day-zero cyber attacks quickly. Progent also offers the assistance of seasoned ransomware recovery engineers with the track record and commitment to reconstruct a compromised system as urgently as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Help
Following a crypto-ransomware invasion, sending the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not guarantee that distant criminals will return the keys to decipher any of your files. Kaspersky Labs estimated that 17% of ransomware victims never recovered their data after having paid the ransom, resulting in increased losses. The risk is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are commonly several hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom demand can be in the millions of dollars. The other path is to piece back together the essential elements of your IT environment. Absent the availability of complete data backups, this calls for a wide range of skills, top notch project management, and the willingness to work continuously until the task is completed.

For decades, Progent has offered expert Information Technology services for businesses across the U.S. and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's group of subject matter experts includes engineers who have earned advanced certifications in important technologies such as Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distributions of Linux. Progent's security experts have garnered internationally-renowned certifications including CISM, CISSP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Visit Progent's certifications). Progent in addition has expertise with financial management and ERP applications. This breadth of expertise gives Progent the capability to efficiently identify necessary systems and re-organize the remaining parts of your network system following a ransomware attack and configure them into an operational system.

Progent's security team of experts has powerful project management tools to orchestrate the complicated restoration process. Progent appreciates the importance of working quickly and in concert with a customer's management and IT staff to prioritize tasks and to put key systems back on line as fast as possible.

Client Story: A Successful Crypto-Ransomware Intrusion Restoration
A client engaged Progent after their company was brought down by the Ryuk ransomware virus. Ryuk is believed to have been created by North Korean state hackers, possibly using technology exposed from the U.S. NSA organization. Ryuk targets specific businesses with limited tolerance for disruption and is one of the most profitable iterations of ransomware viruses. High publicized organizations include Data Resolution, a California-based info warehousing and cloud computing company, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's client is a single-location manufacturer located in Chicago and has about 500 staff members. The Ryuk attack had frozen all company operations and manufacturing capabilities. The majority of the client's data protection had been directly accessible at the beginning of the attack and were destroyed. The client was pursuing financing for paying the ransom demand (more than $200K) and wishfully thinking for good luck, but ultimately utilized Progent.

Progent worked together with the client to quickly understand and prioritize the critical systems that had to be addressed in order to continue company operations:

• Active Directory
• Electronic Mail
• MRP System

In less than 48 hours, Progent was able to recover Active Directory services to its pre-penetration state. Progent then helped perform reinstallations and storage recovery of mission critical servers. All Microsoft Exchange Server ties and configuration information were intact, which facilitated the rebuild of Exchange. Progent was also able to find local OST data files (Outlook Email Off-Line Folder Files) on staff workstations in order to recover email data. A recent offline backup of the customer's financials/ERP software made it possible to restore these required applications back online for users. Although a large amount of work still had to be done to recover completely from the Ryuk virus, essential systems were recovered rapidly:

During the following couple of weeks critical milestones in the restoration process were made through close cooperation between Progent consultants and the client:

• Self-hosted web applications were brought back up without losing any information.
• The MailStore Server with over 4 million historical emails was brought online and available for users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoices/Accounts Payable/AR/Inventory functions were completely restored.
• A new Palo Alto 850 firewall was set up and programmed.
• 90% of the user desktops were fully operational.

Conclusion
A probable business-ending catastrophe was avoided due to dedicated experts, a wide spectrum of technical expertise, and tight teamwork. Although in analyzing the event afterwards the ransomware virus penetration described here could have been prevented with advanced cyber security technology solutions and recognized best practices, team education, and well thought out security procedures for backup and keeping systems up to date with security patches, the reality is that state-sponsored cyber criminals from Russia, China and elsewhere are tireless and are an ongoing threat. If you do get hit by a ransomware incursion, remember that Progent's team of professionals has extensive experience in ransomware virus defense, remediation, and information systems disaster recovery.

To review or download a PDF version of this customer story, click:
Progent's Crypto-Ransomware Incident Recovery Case Study Datasheet. (PDF - 282 KB)

Additional Crypto-Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent offers businesses in Jersey City a portfolio of online monitoring and security assessment services designed to help you to reduce your vulnerability to ransomware. These services incorporate next-generation machine learning technology to detect new strains of ransomware that can get past traditional signature-based anti-virus products.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Monitoring
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring service that incorporates advanced remote monitoring and management (RMM) techniques to keep your network operating efficiently by tracking the state of vital assets that drive your information system. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alarm is sent immediately to your designated IT management personnel and your Progent engineering consultant so any potential problems can be addressed before they can impact productivity. Learn more details 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-based solution for monitoring and managing your client-server infrastructure by providing tools for performing common tedious tasks. These can include health checking, patch management, automated repairs, endpoint setup, backup and restore, A/V defense, secure remote access, standard and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint profile reporting, and debugging assistance. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious problem, it transmits an alert to your designated IT management staff and your Progent consultant so that potential issues can be fixed before they impact your network. Find out more details about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop monitoring consulting.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Network Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  Progent's ProSight WAN Watch is an infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it easy and inexpensive for small and mid-sized businesses to map, monitor, optimize and debug their connectivity appliances like switches, firewalls, and wireless controllers plus servers, printers, endpoints and other devices. Incorporating state-of-the-art Remote Monitoring and Management technology, WAN Watch makes sure that network diagrams are always updated, copies and displays the configuration of virtually all devices connected to your network, tracks performance, and generates alerts when problems are discovered. By automating time-consuming management activities, WAN Watch can knock hours off common tasks such as making network diagrams, reconfiguring your network, locating appliances that require important software patches, or resolving performance issues. Find out more details about ProSight WAN Watch 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 management reporting utilities created to integrate with the top ticketing and network monitoring programs such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to highlight and contextualize key issues such as spotty support follow-up or machines with missing patches. By exposing ticketing or network health problems clearly and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting enhances productivity, lowers management overhead, and saves money. For more information, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has partnered with leading backup/restore technology companies to produce ProSight Data Protection Services, a selection of management outsourcing plans that provide backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS services manage and track your data backup processes and enable non-disruptive backup and rapid recovery of critical files, applications, system images, and virtual machines. ProSight DPS helps you protect against data loss caused by hardware failures, natural calamities, fire, malware such as ransomware, human mistakes, malicious employees, or application 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 ECHO Backup using Barracuda dedicated storage, and ProSight MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent expert can help you to identify which of these fully managed backup services are best suited for your network.

• 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 incorporates the infrastructure of leading data security vendors to deliver web-based management and comprehensive security for your email traffic. The hybrid architecture of Progent's Email Guard managed service integrates cloud-based filtering with an on-premises gateway device to offer complete protection against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks (DHAs), and other email-based malware. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer serves as a first line of defense and keeps most threats from making it to your network firewall. This reduces your vulnerability to inbound attacks and conserves system bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's onsite security gateway appliance adds a further layer of analysis for incoming email. For outbound email, the onsite security gateway provides AV and anti-spam filtering, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The onsite gateway can also assist Microsoft Exchange Server to track and safeguard internal email traffic that stays inside your corporate firewall. For more details, see ProSight Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: Access Security, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Secure Single Sign-on
  Progent's Duo MFA managed services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected application and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be used for this added form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for access security.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Help Desk: Help Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Support Center services allow your IT team to offload Call Center services to Progent or split responsibilities for support services seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's nationwide roster of certified IT support engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service provides a smooth extension of your core network support resources. End user access to the Service Desk, provision of technical assistance, issue escalation, ticket creation and updates, performance measurement, and management of the service database are consistent whether issues are resolved by your corporate network support staff, by Progent, or both. Read more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Call Desk services.

• Progent Active Protection Against Ransomware: Machine Learning-based Ransomware Identification and Remediation
  Progent's Active Defense Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection (EPP) managed service that incorporates cutting edge behavior analysis tools to guard endpoint devices and physical and virtual servers against new malware attacks like ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely escape traditional signature-based anti-virus tools. Progent ASM services safeguard on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to manage the entire malware attack lifecycle including filtering, identification, mitigation, cleanup, and forensics. Key features include one-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and automatic network-wide immunization against newly discovered attacks. Read more about Progent's ransomware protection and recovery services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  ProSight IT Asset Management service is a cloud-based IT documentation management service that makes it easy to capture, maintain, retrieve and safeguard information about your IT infrastructure, processes, business apps, and services. You can quickly find passwords or serial numbers and be alerted about upcoming expirations of SSLs or domains. By updating and organizing your IT documentation, you can save up to half of time thrown away searching for vital information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a common repository for holding and sharing all documents related to managing your network infrastructure such as standard operating procedures (SOPs) and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also offers a high level of automation for collecting and relating IT data. Whether you're making enhancements, doing regular maintenance, or responding to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the knowledge you need the instant you need it. Find out more about Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for patch management provide businesses of any size a versatile and cost-effective alternative for evaluating, testing, scheduling, implementing, and documenting software and firmware updates to your dynamic information network. In addition to optimizing the protection and functionality of your computer network, Progent's patch management services allow your IT team 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 business can have its key servers and apps hosted in a secure fault tolerant data center on a fast virtual host configured and managed by Progent's IT support professionals. With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service model, the client retains ownership of the data, the OS platforms, and the applications. Since the system is virtualized, it can be ported immediately to a different hardware solution without requiring a lengthy and difficult configuration procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not tied a single 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 machine learning tools to guard physical and virtual endpoints against new malware assaults such as ransomware and email phishing, which routinely evade legacy signature-based anti-virus products. ProSight Active Security Monitoring protects local and cloud-based resources and offers a single platform to automate the complete malware attack progression including blocking, identification, containment, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include one-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and automatic system-wide immunization against newly discovered attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware defense.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Endpoint Protection and Microsoft Exchange Email Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) services offer affordable multi-layer security for physical servers and VMs, workstations, mobile devices, and Microsoft Exchange. ProSight ESP uses adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for continuously monitoring and reacting to cyber assaults from all vectors. ProSight ESP provides firewall protection, penetration alarms, endpoint control, and web filtering via cutting-edge tools packaged within one agent managed from a unified console. Progent's security and virtualization consultants can help you to plan and configure a ProSight ESP environment that meets your company's unique needs and that helps you prove compliance with legal and industry information protection regulations. Progent will assist you define and implement security policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your network and react to alerts that call for immediate action. Progent's consultants can also assist you to install and verify a backup and restore system like ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can get back in business rapidly from a potentially disastrous security attack like ransomware. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified endpoint protection and Microsoft Exchange filtering.