Santa Cruz Ransomware Prevention and Removal Solutions

Ransomware has been widely adopted by cyber extortionists and malicious states, representing a potentially lethal threat to businesses that are successfully attacked. Current versions of crypto-ransomware go after everything, including backup, making even selective restoration a long and costly exercise. Novel versions of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Phobos, Snatch and Egregor have emerged, displacing WannaCry, Cerber, and NotPetya in notoriety, elaborateness, and destructive impact.

Most ransomware penetrations are caused by innocuous-looking emails with dangerous hyperlinks or file attachments, and many are "zero-day" attacks that can escape detection by traditional signature-matching antivirus filters. Although user education and up-front detection are important to protect your network against ransomware attacks, best practices dictate that you assume some attacks will eventually get through and that you put in place a strong backup solution that permits you to recover quickly with minimal damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Report is an ultra-affordable service built around an online interview with a Progent security consultant experienced in ransomware defense and recovery. In the course of this assessment Progent will collaborate with your Santa Cruz network management staff to collect critical data about your security configuration and backup environment. Progent will utilize this information to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Report documenting how to adhere to leading practices for configuring and administering your security and backup systems to prevent or recover from a crypto-ransomware attack.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report highlights vital issues related to ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The report addresses:

Security

• Proper allocation and use of admin accounts
• Appropriate NTFS and SMB (Server Message Block) permissions
• Optimal firewall configuration
• Safe RDP configuration
• Recommend AntiVirus tools selection and configuration

• Split permission architecture for backup protection
• Backing up critical servers including Active Directory
• Geographically dispersed backups with cloud backup to Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a variety of malicious software that encrypts or deletes files so they are unusable or are publicized. Crypto-ransomware sometimes locks the victim's computer. To prevent the carnage, the victim is asked to pay a certain ransom, typically via a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a brief time window. There is no guarantee that paying the extortion price will recover the damaged files or prevent its publication. Files can be encrypted or deleted throughout a network depending on the target's write permissions, and you cannot solve the military-grade encryption algorithms used on the compromised files. A typical ransomware delivery package is tainted email, in which the user is tricked into interacting with by means of a social engineering technique called spear phishing. This makes the email to appear to come from a familiar sender. Another common attack vector is a poorly protected Remote Desktop Protocol port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker ushered in the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses attributed to by the many versions of ransomware is estimated at billions of dollars per year, roughly doubling every other year. Famous examples are Locky, and Petya. Recent high-profile variants like Ryuk, DoppelPaymer and Cerber are more elaborate and have caused more havoc than older versions. Even if your backup/recovery procedures enable your business to restore your ransomed files, you can still be threatened by exfiltration, where ransomed documents are exposed to the public. Because new versions of ransomware are launched daily, there is no certainty that traditional signature-based anti-virus filters will block the latest malware. If an attack does appear in an email, it is important that your end users have been taught to be aware of phishing tricks. Your ultimate protection is a solid scheme for scheduling and retaining offsite backups plus the deployment of dependable recovery platforms.

Contact Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Assessment in Santa Cruz
For pricing details and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Report can enhance your protection against crypto-ransomware in Santa Cruz, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.