Modesto Ransomware Defense and Remediation Services

Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for cybercriminals and malicious states, posing a potentially existential risk to businesses that are breached. Current strains of crypto-ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including backup, making even selective recovery a challenging and expensive exercise. Novel variations of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Phobos, LockBit and Nephilim have emerged, displacing WannaCry, Cerber, and CryptoWall in notoriety, elaborateness, and destructiveness.

Most ransomware breaches are the result of innocent-seeming emails that have dangerous links or file attachments, and a high percentage are so-called "zero-day" strains that elude detection by legacy signature-based antivirus tools. While user education and frontline detection are important to protect against ransomware, best practices demand that you assume some malware will inevitably succeed and that you deploy a strong backup mechanism that enables you to recover rapidly with minimal losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Assessment is a low-cost service built around a remote discussion with a Progent security consultant skilled in ransomware defense and repair. In the course of this assessment Progent will work directly with your Modesto network managers to collect critical information about your security setup and backup environment. Progent will use this data to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment documenting how to follow leading practices for implementing 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 focuses on key issues associated with crypto-ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The report covers:

Cybersecurity

• Correct use of admin accounts
• Correct NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB authorizations
• Optimal firewall setup
• Secure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) configuration
• Advice about AntiVirus filtering selection and configuration

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

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts or steals a victim's files so they are unusable or are publicized. Crypto-ransomware often locks the target's computer. To avoid the damage, the victim is asked to send a specified amount of money, usually via a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a short time window. It is never certain that delivering the extortion price will restore the lost data or prevent its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or deleted across a network depending on the target's write permissions, and you cannot solve the military-grade encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A common ransomware delivery package is booby-trapped email, in which the victim is tricked into responding to by means of a social engineering exploit called spear phishing. This causes the email to look as though it came from a familiar sender. Another common vulnerability is a poorly protected RDP port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker ushered in the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the damage attributed to by the many strains of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars annually, more than doubling every other year. Famous examples are WannaCry, and NotPetya. Recent high-profile threats like Ryuk, Sodinokibi and TeslaCrypt are more elaborate and have caused more havoc than older strains. Even if your backup/recovery procedures enable you to restore your encrypted data, you can still be threatened by exfiltration, where stolen documents are made public (known as "doxxing"). Because additional versions of ransomware are launched daily, there is no guarantee that traditional signature-matching anti-virus filters will block the latest malware. If an attack does show up in an email, it is important that your users have been taught to identify phishing techniques. Your ultimate defense is a sound process for performing and retaining offsite backups and the deployment of reliable restoration tools.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Vulnerability Assessment in Modesto
For pricing information and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Readiness Review can bolster your protection against ransomware in Modesto, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or visit Contact Progent.