Sherman Oaks 24x7 Critical Crypto
Computer Virus Assessment and Repair Experts

Ransomware : Your Worst Information Technology Disaster
Ransomware has become an escalating cyber pandemic that poses an extinction-level threat for organizations unprepared for an assault. Multiple generations of ransomware such as Reveton, Fusob, Locky, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been running rampant for many years and continue to cause damage. Modern variants of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, Snatch or Nephilim, as well as more unnamed malware, not only encrypt on-line critical data but also infiltrate most accessible system backup. Data synched to the cloud can also be ransomed. In a poorly designed system, this can make any recovery useless and effectively knocks the datacenter back to square one.

Getting back online services and information following a ransomware attack becomes a sprint against time as the targeted business fights to contain, remove the ransomware, and resume mission-critical activity. Because ransomware needs time to replicate, penetrations are frequently launched at night, when attacks may take more time to notice. This compounds the difficulty of quickly assembling and coordinating a knowledgeable response team.

Progent provides an assortment of solutions for protecting businesses from ransomware attacks. Among these are team training to help recognize and avoid phishing scams, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, plus setup and configuration of modern security solutions with artificial intelligence technology from SentinelOne to identify and quarantine day-zero cyber threats rapidly. Progent also provides the assistance of expert ransomware recovery professionals with the talent and perseverance to re-deploy a breached system as urgently as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Restoration Support Services
Subsequent to a ransomware penetration, even paying the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that merciless criminals will return the codes to unencrypt all your information. Kaspersky ascertained that seventeen percent of ransomware victims never restored their files even after having sent off the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The gamble is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are typically a few hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom demand can be in the millions of dollars. The fallback is to piece back together the mission-critical elements of your IT environment. Without access to full system backups, this requires a wide complement of skill sets, well-coordinated team management, and the capability to work continuously until the task is finished.

For twenty years, Progent has provided certified expert IT services for businesses across the US and has achieved Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's group of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes engineers who have attained advanced industry certifications in leading technologies like Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distributions of Linux. Progent's cyber security experts have earned internationally-renowned certifications including CISA, CISSP, CRISC, SANS GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (See Progent's certifications). Progent in addition has experience with financial systems and ERP applications. This breadth of expertise gives Progent the capability to quickly understand critical systems and consolidate the surviving components of your IT environment following a ransomware penetration and rebuild them into an operational system.

Progent's ransomware team of experts uses powerful project management applications to coordinate the sophisticated recovery process. Progent knows the urgency of working swiftly and in unison with a client's management and IT resources to prioritize tasks and to put the most important applications back online as soon as humanly possible.

Customer Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Incident Recovery
A business sought out Progent after their organization was penetrated by Ryuk ransomware. Ryuk is generally considered to have been launched by North Korean state sponsored cybercriminals, suspected of adopting strategies leaked from the United States National Security Agency. Ryuk targets specific businesses with little room for operational disruption and is one of the most lucrative versions of ransomware viruses. Major targets include Data Resolution, a California-based data warehousing and cloud computing firm, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's client is a single-location manufacturer located in Chicago with around 500 staff members. The Ryuk event had shut down all essential operations and manufacturing capabilities. Most of the client's system backups had been on-line at the start of the intrusion and were encrypted. The client was pursuing financing for paying the ransom demand (in excess of $200K) and wishfully thinking for the best, but in the end made the decision to use Progent.

Progent worked with the customer to quickly determine and assign priority to the mission critical applications that needed to be recovered in order to resume departmental functions:

• Active Directory
• E-Mail
• MRP System

In less than 2 days, Progent was able to restore Active Directory services to its pre-attack state. Progent then assisted with rebuilding and storage recovery on needed servers. All Exchange Server data and attributes were usable, which facilitated the restore of Exchange. Progent was also able to assemble local OST data files (Outlook Off-Line Folder Files) on staff PCs to recover email data. A not too old offline backup of the client's accounting software made it possible to return these essential programs back servicing users. Although major work needed to be completed to recover completely from the Ryuk attack, the most important services were returned to operations quickly:

During the next couple of weeks critical milestones in the recovery process were achieved through tight collaboration between Progent consultants and the client:

• Self-hosted web sites were brought back up with no loss of information.
• The MailStore Microsoft Exchange Server with over four million historical messages was brought online and available for users.
• CRM/Product Ordering/Invoicing/Accounts Payable (AP)/Accounts Receivables (AR)/Inventory Control capabilities were fully recovered.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 firewall was set up and programmed.
• Most of the user desktops and notebooks were being used by staff.

Conclusion
A probable business extinction disaster was averted through the efforts of results-oriented experts, a broad array of technical expertise, and close collaboration. Although in hindsight the crypto-ransomware virus incident detailed here would have been identified and prevented with up-to-date cyber security technology and NIST Cybersecurity Framework best practices, user education, and appropriate security procedures for backup and applying software patches, the reality is that state-sponsored cyber criminals from China, Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are relentless and are an ongoing threat. If you do get hit by a crypto-ransomware incident, remember that Progent's team of professionals has proven experience in ransomware virus defense, removal, and file recovery.

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

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent offers businesses in Sherman Oaks a portfolio of remote monitoring and security evaluation services designed to assist you to minimize your vulnerability to crypto-ransomware. These services include next-generation artificial intelligence capability to detect new strains of ransomware that are able to escape detection by legacy signature-based security solutions.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Monitoring
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring service that incorporates state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management techniques to help keep your network operating at peak levels by checking the health of critical assets that power your information system. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alert is sent immediately to your specified IT management staff and your Progent consultant so all looming issues can be addressed before they have a chance to impact productivity. Find out more details about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop remote monitoring consulting.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Centralized RMM for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software offers a centralized, cloud-driven solution for managing your network, server, and desktop devices by providing tools for streamlining common tedious tasks. These can include health checking, patch management, automated repairs, endpoint setup, backup and recovery, A/V response, secure remote access, built-in and custom scripts, resource inventory, endpoint profile reporting, and troubleshooting help. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious incident, it transmits an alert to your designated IT management staff and your Progent technical consultant so that potential issues can be fixed before they impact your network. Learn more details about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop remote monitoring services.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Infrastructure Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is a network infrastructure management service that makes it simple and inexpensive for smaller businesses to map out, monitor, optimize and debug their connectivity hardware such as routers, firewalls, and access points plus servers, printers, client computers and other devices. Using cutting-edge Remote Monitoring and Management technology, WAN Watch ensures that network maps are kept current, copies and displays the configuration information of virtually all devices on your network, monitors performance, and sends notices when potential issues are detected. By automating time-consuming network management processes, ProSight WAN Watch can cut hours off ordinary tasks such as network mapping, expanding your network, finding devices that require important updates, or isolating performance issues. Learn more details about ProSight WAN Watch network infrastructure monitoring and management services.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time and In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is a growing suite of real-time management reporting utilities created to integrate with the industry's leading ticketing and network monitoring programs including ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and features color coding to highlight and contextualize critical issues such as spotty support follow-up or endpoints with missing patches. By identifying ticketing or network health problems concisely 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 platforms.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Managed Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with advanced backup technology companies to create ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a selection of subscription-based management offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS services automate and monitor your backup processes and enable non-disruptive backup and fast restoration of vital files/folders, apps, images, plus virtual machines. ProSight DPS lets your business avoid data loss caused by equipment failures, natural calamities, fire, malware like ransomware, human mistakes, malicious insiders, or software bugs. Managed backup services available in the ProSight Data Protection Services product family include ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight ECHO Backup using Barracuda dedicated hardware, and ProSight MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent service representative can assist you to determine which of these managed backup services are best suited for your IT environment.

• ProSight Email Guard: Inbound and Outbound Spam Filtering and Data Leakage Protection
  ProSight Email Guard is Progent's spam filtering and email encryption service that uses the technology of leading information security vendors to deliver web-based management and comprehensive security for your email traffic. The powerful structure of Email Guard managed service combines a Cloud Protection Layer with a local gateway device to offer complete defense against spam, viruses, Denial of Service Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks (DHAs), and other email-borne malware. Email Guard's cloud filter serves as a preliminary barricade and blocks the vast majority of threats from making it to your security perimeter. This reduces your vulnerability to external attacks and conserves network bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's on-premises gateway appliance provides a further layer of analysis for inbound email. For outbound email, the local security gateway offers AV and anti-spam filtering, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The onsite gateway can also help Microsoft Exchange Server to monitor and protect internal email that stays within your security perimeter. For more information, visit Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Secure Single Sign-on
  Progent's Duo authentication managed services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and give your password you are requested to verify who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized as this added means of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for access security.

• Outsourced/Co-managed Call Desk: Call Center Managed Services
  Progent's Help Center services permit your information technology staff to offload Call Center services to Progent or divide activity for support services transparently between your in-house support group and Progent's extensive roster of certified IT support engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service provides a seamless extension of your internal support group. User access to the Service Desk, delivery of support services, issue escalation, ticket generation and updates, performance metrics, and management of the service database are cohesive whether issues are taken care of by your core IT support organization, by Progent, or by a combination. 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 Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection managed service that incorporates next generation behavior-based machine learning tools to defend endpoint devices and servers and VMs against new malware attacks such as ransomware and email phishing, which routinely get by traditional signature-matching anti-virus products. Progent ASM services protect local and cloud resources and offers a unified platform to manage the complete threat progression including blocking, infiltration detection, mitigation, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include one-click rollback using Windows VSS and automatic system-wide immunization against new threats. Read more about Progent's ransomware protection and recovery services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service is an IT infrastructure documentation management service that allows you to create, update, retrieve and protect information related to your network infrastructure, procedures, applications, and services. You can quickly locate passwords or serial numbers and be alerted about upcoming expirations of SSLs or warranties. By cleaning up and organizing your IT infrastructure documentation, you can save as much as half of time spent searching for vital information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a centralized repository for storing and sharing all documents related to managing your network infrastructure like standard operating procedures 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, performing maintenance, or responding to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management gets you the data you need when you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's support services for software and firmware patch management offer organizations of any size a versatile and affordable solution for evaluating, validating, scheduling, implementing, and documenting software and firmware updates to your ever-evolving information network. Besides optimizing the protection and functionality of your computer network, Progent's patch management services free up time for your IT team to concentrate on line-of-business projects and tasks that derive the highest business value from your information network. Read more about Progent's software/firmware update management support services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted VMs at Progent's Tier III Data Center
  With ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size business can have its critical servers and apps hosted in a protected fault tolerant data center on a high-performance virtual host configured and maintained by Progent's network support experts. Under Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service model, the customer owns the data, the operating system platforms, and the applications. Because the system is virtualized, it can be ported easily to a different hardware environment without requiring a lengthy and difficult reinstallation process. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not tied one hosting provider. Find out more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection service that incorporates SentinelOne's next generation behavior-based machine learning technology to guard physical and virtual endpoints against modern malware attacks like ransomware and email phishing, which easily get by traditional signature-matching anti-virus tools. ProSight Active Security Monitoring safeguards local and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to manage the complete malware attack progression including filtering, infiltration detection, mitigation, remediation, and forensics. Key capabilities include single-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and automatic system-wide immunization against new 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 (ESP): Physical and Virtual Endpoint Security and Microsoft Exchange Email Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) managed services deliver economical in-depth protection for physical and virtual servers, desktops, smartphones, and Microsoft Exchange. ProSight ESP uses contextual security and modern behavior analysis for round-the-clock monitoring and reacting to cyber threats from all vectors. ProSight ESP delivers two-way firewall protection, intrusion alerts, endpoint management, and web filtering through cutting-edge tools packaged within one agent accessible from a single control. Progent's security and virtualization consultants can assist your business to plan and configure a ProSight ESP deployment that addresses your company's specific needs and that helps you demonstrate compliance with legal and industry data protection standards. Progent will assist you define and configure security policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your network and respond to alarms that call for urgent attention. Progent's consultants can also help your company to install and verify a backup and restore system such as ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover rapidly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack like ransomware. Read more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified physical and virtual endpoint security and Exchange email filtering.