Dallas Ransomware Protection and Cleanup Consulting

Ransomware has been widely adopted by cyber extortionists and malicious governments, posing a potentially lethal risk to companies that fall victim. The latest strains of ransomware go after everything, including backup, making even selective recovery a complex and costly exercise. New variations of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, DopplePaymer, LockBit and Egregor have made the headlines, replacing Locky, Spora, and Petya in notoriety, sophistication, and destructive impact.

90% of crypto-ransomware breaches are caused by innocent-seeming emails with dangerous hyperlinks or file attachments, and many are so-called "zero-day" strains that elude detection by legacy signature-based antivirus filters. Although user education and up-front detection are critical to defend against ransomware attacks, best practices dictate that you assume some malware will eventually succeed and that you deploy a strong backup solution that allows you to recover quickly with minimal losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Report is a low-cost service built around an online interview with a Progent security consultant skilled in ransomware defense and repair. In the course of this interview Progent will work with your Dallas network managers to collect pertinent information about your cybersecurity posture and backup environment. Progent will utilize this information to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Report documenting how to follow best practices for configuring and managing your cybersecurity and backup systems to prevent or clean up after a crypto-ransomware attack.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment highlights key issues associated with crypto-ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The review addresses:

Security

• Proper use of admin accounts
• Correct NTFS and SMB (Server Message Block) authorizations
• Proper firewall configuration
• Secure RDP access
• Guidance for AntiVirus (AV) tools identification and deployment

• Split permission model for backup protection
• Protecting key servers such as AD
• Offsite backups with cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a variety of malicious software that encrypts or steals a victim's files so they are unusable or are publicized. Ransomware sometimes locks the target's computer. To avoid the damage, the victim is required to send a certain amount of money, usually via a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a brief time window. It is never certain that paying the ransom will restore the lost files or prevent its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or erased across a network based on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot solve the strong encryption technologies used on the compromised files. A typical ransomware attack vector is spoofed email, whereby the victim is tricked into responding to by a social engineering technique called 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 (RDP) port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker opened the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the damage attributed to by the many versions of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars per year, more than doubling every other year. Notorious examples are Locky, and Petya. Recent high-profile threats like Ryuk, Maze and TeslaCrypt are more sophisticated and have wreaked more havoc than earlier strains. Even if your backup procedures permit you to restore your encrypted files, you can still be hurt by exfiltration, where stolen documents are made public (known as "doxxing"). Because new versions of ransomware crop up daily, there is no certainty that conventional signature-matching anti-virus tools will detect a new attack. If an attack does appear in an email, it is important that your users have been taught to be aware of social engineering techniques. Your last line of defense is a solid scheme for scheduling and keeping offsite backups plus the use of reliable restoration tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Susceptibility Checkup in Dallas
For pricing details and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Audit can bolster your protection against crypto-ransomware in Dallas, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.