Fargo Ransomware Filtering and Restoration Solutions

Ransomware has been weaponized by cybercriminals and malicious governments, representing a potentially existential risk to businesses that are victimized. Current strains of ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including online backup, making even selective restoration a long and expensive process. New variations of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Mailto (aka Netwalker), Phobos, Snatch and Nephilim have made the headlines, replacing Locky, TeslaCrypt, and NotPetya in notoriety, elaborateness, and destructiveness.

Most ransomware infections are the result of innocent-seeming emails that have malicious links or file attachments, and many are so-called "zero-day" strains that can escape detection by traditional signature-matching antivirus filters. While user education and up-front detection are critical to defend your network against ransomware attacks, best practices demand that you take for granted some attacks will eventually succeed and that you prepare a strong backup solution that permits you to recover rapidly with minimal damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Assessment is a low-cost service built around an online interview with a Progent security expert skilled in ransomware protection and recovery. During this assessment Progent will cooperate directly with your Fargo IT management staff to gather pertinent information about your security setup and backup environment. Progent will utilize this data to produce a Basic Security and Best Practices Report documenting how to adhere to best practices for implementing and managing your security and backup systems to block or clean up after a crypto-ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment focuses on key areas related to ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The review addresses:

Cybersecurity

• Effective use of administration accounts
• Correct NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB authorizations
• Proper firewall configuration
• Secure RDP configuration
• Advice about AntiVirus filtering selection and configuration

• Split permission architecture for backup protection
• Protecting key servers including AD
• Offsite backups including cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malicious software that encrypts or deletes files so they are unusable or are made publicly available. Ransomware often locks the target's computer. To prevent the damage, the victim is asked to pay a certain amount of money, usually in the form of a crypto currency such as Bitcoin, within a short period of time. It is not guaranteed that paying the extortion price will restore the lost data or avoid its publication. Files can be altered or deleted throughout a network depending on the target's write permissions, and you cannot reverse engineer the strong encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A typical ransomware attack vector is tainted email, in which the user is tricked into interacting with by means of a social engineering exploit known as spear phishing. This causes the email message to appear to come from a familiar source. Another common attack vector is an improperly secured Remote Desktop Protocol port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker ushered in the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different versions of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars per year, roughly doubling every two years. Notorious examples are Locky, and Petya. Recent high-profile threats like Ryuk, Maze and Spora are more sophisticated and have caused more damage than older strains. Even if your backup/recovery procedures permit your business to recover your encrypted files, you can still be threatened by so-called exfiltration, where stolen data are made public (known as "doxxing"). Because additional variants of ransomware are launched every day, there is no guarantee that conventional signature-matching anti-virus filters will block a new malware. If threat does show up in an email, it is important that your users have been taught to be aware of social engineering techniques. Your ultimate defense is a solid scheme for scheduling and retaining remote backups plus the use of dependable restoration platforms.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Evaluation in Fargo
For pricing information and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Checkup can enhance your protection against crypto-ransomware in Fargo, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.