24-7 Santos Immediate Crypto
Malware Detection and Removal Services

Ransomware : Your Crippling Information Technology Catastrophe
Ransomware has become a too-frequent cyberplague that represents an existential threat for businesses poorly prepared for an attack. Different versions of ransomware like the CryptoLocker, WannaCry, Bad Rabbit, NotPetya and MongoLock cryptoworms have been around for many years and continue to cause harm. More recent variants of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, LockBit or Nephilim, as well as additional as yet unnamed newcomers, not only do encryption of online information but also infect most accessible system protection mechanisms. Data synchronized to the cloud can also be corrupted. In a poorly designed environment, this can render automatic restoration hopeless and effectively sets the network back to zero.

Getting back online programs and data following a ransomware attack becomes a race against the clock as the victim struggles to contain the damage and eradicate the virus and to restore business-critical activity. Since crypto-ransomware needs time to spread, attacks are usually launched during nights and weekends, when penetrations in many cases take longer to discover. This multiplies the difficulty of rapidly marshalling and organizing a capable mitigation team.

Progent offers a variety of help services for protecting businesses from ransomware attacks. Among these are staff education to become familiar with and not fall victim to phishing exploits, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, in addition to deployment of the latest generation security appliances with artificial intelligence technology from SentinelOne to identify and suppress new threats quickly. Progent in addition can provide the services of veteran crypto-ransomware recovery consultants with the talent and perseverance to restore a compromised system as soon as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Restoration Help
After a ransomware attack, sending the ransom demands in Bitcoin cryptocurrency does not guarantee that distant criminals will return the needed codes to unencrypt all your data. Kaspersky Labs ascertained that 17% of crypto-ransomware victims never recovered their files even after having paid the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The gamble is also very costly. Ryuk ransoms commonly range from 15-40 BTC ($120,000 and $400,000). This is well higher than the typical ransomware demands, which ZDNET determined to be approximately $13,000. The alternative is to re-install the vital components of your IT environment. Without access to full information backups, this requires a wide complement of skills, well-coordinated project management, and the ability to work continuously until the job is complete.

For twenty years, Progent has provided professional IT services for businesses in Santos and throughout the U.S. and has achieved Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's pool of subject matter experts includes consultants who have earned high-level certifications in foundation technologies such as Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distros of Linux. Progent's cyber security consultants have garnered internationally-renowned industry certifications including CISM, CISSP-ISSAP, CRISC, and SANS GIAC. (See Progent's certifications). Progent also has expertise in financial systems and ERP software solutions. This breadth of experience provides Progent the ability to knowledgably determine critical systems and consolidate the surviving pieces of your network system following a ransomware attack and rebuild them into a functioning system.

Progent's recovery team has state-of-the-art project management systems to orchestrate the complex recovery process. Progent understands the urgency of acting rapidly and in concert with a customer's management and Information Technology resources to prioritize tasks and to get the most important systems back on line as fast as humanly possible.

Client Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Incident Response
A client engaged Progent after their network system was brought down by Ryuk ransomware. Ryuk is thought to have been created by Northern Korean state sponsored cybercriminals, possibly using approaches exposed from America's NSA organization. Ryuk goes after specific businesses with limited ability to sustain operational disruption and is one of the most profitable examples of ransomware malware. Headline victims include Data Resolution, a California-based info warehousing and cloud computing company, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's client is a regional manufacturing company based in the Chicago metro area with about 500 workers. The Ryuk attack had shut down all essential operations and manufacturing processes. The majority of the client's system backups had been on-line at the time of the intrusion and were damaged. The client was taking steps for paying the ransom demand (in excess of two hundred thousand dollars) and praying for the best, but in the end made the decision to use Progent.

Progent worked with the client to quickly determine and assign priority to the critical services that needed to be recovered in order to restart company functions:

• Active Directory (AD)
• Electronic Mail
• MRP System

In less than two days, Progent was able to restore Active Directory to its pre-intrusion state. Progent then helped perform rebuilding and storage recovery of mission critical servers. All Exchange Server data and attributes were intact, which greatly helped the rebuild of Exchange. Progent was also able to locate local OST data files (Outlook Off-Line Data Files) on team workstations to recover email messages. A not too old off-line backup of the client's accounting/ERP software made them able to recover these required applications back online. Although major work still had to be done to recover fully from the Ryuk damage, critical systems were recovered quickly:

Over the following couple of weeks important milestones in the restoration process were made through close cooperation between Progent engineers and the client:

• Internal web sites were returned to operation without losing any information.
• The MailStore Microsoft Exchange Server containing more than 4 million archived messages was brought online and available for users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoices/Accounts Payable/AR/Inventory Control functions were 100% functional.
• A new Palo Alto 850 security appliance was brought online.
• Ninety percent of the desktops and laptops were fully operational.

Conclusion
A possible enterprise-killing disaster was dodged due to top-tier professionals, a wide spectrum of subject matter expertise, and tight collaboration. Although in analyzing the event afterwards the ransomware virus incident detailed here should have been disabled with advanced cyber security technology and security best practices, user training, and well designed incident response procedures for information backup and applying software patches, the reality remains that government-sponsored criminal cyber gangs from Russia, China and elsewhere are relentless and are an ongoing threat. If you do get hit by a ransomware penetration, remember that Progent's team of professionals has extensive experience in ransomware virus blocking, mitigation, and file recovery.

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

Additional Crypto-Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent offers companies in Santos a portfolio of remote monitoring and security evaluation services designed to help you to reduce the threat from ransomware. These services incorporate next-generation AI technology to uncover zero-day strains of ransomware that are able to escape detection by traditional signature-based anti-virus solutions.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring is an endpoint protection (EPP) solution that incorporates SentinelOne's next generation behavior-based machine learning tools to defend physical and virtual endpoints against modern malware attacks like ransomware and email phishing, which routinely evade legacy signature-based anti-virus products. ProSight ASM safeguards local and cloud-based resources and offers a single platform to manage the complete threat progression including filtering, identification, mitigation, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include single-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time network-wide immunization against newly discovered threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Read 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 Exchange Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) managed services deliver ultra-affordable multi-layer protection for physical servers and virtual machines, workstations, smartphones, and Exchange email. ProSight ESP uses contextual security and modern behavior analysis for round-the-clock monitoring and responding to security threats from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers firewall protection, intrusion alerts, device control, and web filtering through cutting-edge tools packaged within a single agent managed from a single console. Progent's security and virtualization experts can help your business to design and configure a ProSight ESP environment that addresses your company's specific requirements and that allows you achieve and demonstrate compliance with government and industry information security regulations. Progent will assist you specify and implement policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and react to alerts that call for immediate action. Progent can also assist you to install and verify a backup and disaster recovery system like ProSight Data Protection Services so you can get back in business rapidly from a potentially disastrous security attack such as ransomware. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified endpoint security and Exchange email filtering.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with leading backup software providers to create ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a selection of subscription-based offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS services automate and track your backup processes and enable non-disruptive backup and rapid restoration of critical files/folders, apps, images, and virtual machines. ProSight DPS helps you avoid data loss caused by hardware failures, natural disasters, fire, malware like ransomware, user mistakes, ill-intentioned insiders, or software glitches. Managed services available in the ProSight DPS product family include ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight DPS ECHO Backup using Barracuda dedicated storage, and ProSight DPS MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent consultant can help you to identify which of these managed backup services are most appropriate for your IT environment.

• ProSight Email Guard: Inbound and Outbound Spam Filtering and Data Leakage Protection
  ProSight Email Guard is Progent's spam filtering service that uses the technology of leading information security companies to provide web-based control and comprehensive protection for all your inbound and outbound email. The powerful architecture of Progent's Email Guard managed service integrates cloud-based filtering with an on-premises security gateway appliance to offer advanced protection against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks (DHAs), and other email-based malware. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer acts as a first line of defense and keeps the vast majority of unwanted email from making it to your network firewall. This reduces your exposure to external threats and saves network bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's on-premises gateway device adds a further level of analysis for inbound email. For outgoing email, the on-premises security gateway offers AV and anti-spam protection, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The on-premises security gateway can also help Microsoft Exchange Server to track and safeguard internal email traffic that stays within your security perimeter. For more details, visit ProSight Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Network Infrastructure Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is a network infrastructure management service that makes it easy and inexpensive for smaller organizations to map, track, enhance and troubleshoot their networking hardware such as routers, firewalls, and load balancers plus servers, endpoints and other networked devices. Incorporating state-of-the-art Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology, ProSight WAN Watch makes sure that network maps are always current, captures and manages the configuration information of virtually all devices connected to your network, tracks performance, and sends notices when problems are detected. By automating tedious management activities, WAN Watch can cut hours off ordinary chores such as making network diagrams, expanding your network, locating devices that need important updates, or identifying the cause of performance problems. Learn more details about ProSight WAN Watch network infrastructure management services.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Remote Monitoring and Management
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop remote monitoring managed service that uses state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management technology to keep your network operating at peak levels by checking the state of critical computers that drive your information system. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alarm is sent automatically to your designated IT personnel and your assigned Progent engineering consultant so all potential problems can be resolved before they have a chance to impact productivity. Find out more details about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small organization can have its critical servers and apps hosted in a secure fault tolerant data center on a high-performance virtual host configured and maintained by Progent's network support experts. Under the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the client retains ownership of the data, the operating system software, and the applications. Because the environment is virtualized, it can be moved easily to a different hardware environment without requiring a time-consuming and difficult configuration procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not locked into a single hosting provider. Find out more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  ProSight IT Asset Management service is a cloud-based IT documentation management service that allows you to create, maintain, retrieve and protect information related to your IT infrastructure, processes, business apps, and services. You can quickly find passwords or IP addresses and be warned about upcoming expirations of SSL certificates or warranties. By cleaning up and organizing your IT infrastructure documentation, you can save up to 50% of time spent looking for critical information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a centralized repository for holding and sharing all documents related to managing your network infrastructure like standard operating procedures (SOPs) and self-service instructions. ProSight IT Asset Management also offers advanced automation for gathering and associating IT data. Whether you're making improvements, doing maintenance, or responding to an emergency, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the data you require when you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Detection and Remediation
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection (EPP) managed service that utilizes next generation behavior machine learning technology to guard endpoints as well as servers and VMs against new malware attacks such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely escape traditional signature-matching AV tools. Progent ASM services protect on-premises and cloud-based resources and provides a unified platform to automate the entire threat lifecycle including blocking, identification, containment, remediation, and forensics. Top capabilities include one-click rollback with Windows VSS and automatic system-wide immunization against new attacks. Read more about Progent's ransomware protection and cleanup services.

• Outsourced/Co-managed Service Desk: Help Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Support Desk services allow your IT team to offload Call Center services to Progent or divide activity for Service Desk support seamlessly between your internal network support team and Progent's nationwide roster of certified IT support engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service offers a smooth extension of your in-house support team. Client interaction with the Service Desk, provision of support, issue escalation, ticket creation and tracking, efficiency metrics, and maintenance of the service database are cohesive regardless of whether incidents are resolved by your in-house IT support group, by Progent, or a mix of the two. Find out more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Service Desk services.

• Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for software and firmware patch management provide organizations of all sizes a versatile and cost-effective solution for assessing, testing, scheduling, applying, and tracking updates to your dynamic information system. In addition to optimizing the protection and reliability of your computer network, Progent's software/firmware update management services permit your in-house IT staff to focus on more strategic projects and activities that derive the highest business value from your information network. Find out more about Progent's patch management services.

• ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: Access Security, Endpoint Remediation, and Secure Single Sign-on
  Progent's Duo MFA services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, whenever you log into a protected application and give your password you are asked to verify who you are via a unit that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this second means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To find out more about Duo identity authentication services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services.

• ProSight Reporting: In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Applications
  ProSight Reporting is a growing line of in-depth management reporting tools created to work with the industry's top ticketing and remote network monitoring applications including ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting incorporates Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to highlight and contextualize key issues such as spotty support follow-up or machines with missing patches. By identifying ticketing or network health concerns clearly and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves productivity, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For more information, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.