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Virus Damage Assessment and Restoration Experts

Crypto-Ransomware : Your Crippling IT Disaster
Ransomware has become a modern cyber pandemic that presents an existential danger for businesses of all sizes unprepared for an attack. Multiple generations of crypto-ransomware such as CryptoLocker, Fusob, Bad Rabbit, NotPetya and MongoLock cryptoworms have been circulating for many years and continue to cause destruction. Modern variants of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, Conti or Egregor, as well as additional as yet unnamed malware, not only do encryption of online data files but also infect all configured system protection mechanisms. Information replicated to off-site disaster recovery sites can also be encrypted. In a vulnerable system, this can render automated restore operations hopeless and effectively sets the entire system back to square one.

Getting back on-line programs and data after a ransomware event becomes a race against time as the targeted business struggles to contain, eradicate the virus, and restore business-critical operations. Due to the fact that crypto-ransomware requires time to move laterally, penetrations are frequently launched during nights and weekends, when attacks are likely to take longer to discover. This multiplies the difficulty of promptly assembling and organizing a qualified response team.

Progent offers a variety of solutions for protecting businesses from ransomware attacks. Among these are team member training to become familiar with and avoid phishing scams, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, in addition to setup and configuration of modern security solutions with machine learning technology from SentinelOne to detect and suppress new threats quickly. Progent also offers the services of experienced ransomware recovery consultants with the talent and perseverance to reconstruct a breached system as urgently as possible.

Progent's Crypto-Ransomware Recovery Support Services
After a ransomware penetration, paying the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that distant criminals will return the needed keys to decipher all your information. Kaspersky estimated that seventeen percent of crypto-ransomware victims never recovered their data after having sent off the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The gamble is also expensive. Ryuk ransoms are typically several hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom demand can reach millions of dollars. The other path is to piece back together the mission-critical components of your IT environment. Absent access to essential information backups, this requires a broad complement of skills, well-coordinated team management, and the capability to work continuously until the recovery project is over.

For twenty years, Progent has offered certified expert Information Technology services for businesses throughout the US and has achieved Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts includes consultants who have earned high-level industry certifications in key technologies such as Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distributions of Linux. Progent's security specialists have garnered internationally-recognized industry certifications including CISA, CISSP-ISSAP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Visit Progent's certifications). Progent also has experience with financial systems and ERP applications. This breadth of experience provides Progent the skills to efficiently ascertain critical systems and consolidate the remaining components of your IT system after a ransomware attack and rebuild them into a functioning system.

Progent's ransomware team uses powerful project management applications to orchestrate the complicated recovery process. Progent understands the importance of working swiftly and together with a client's management and IT staff to prioritize tasks and to get the most important services back on line as fast as possible.

Business Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Penetration Restoration
A business engaged Progent after their network was penetrated by Ryuk ransomware. Ryuk is generally considered to have been launched by North Korean state hackers, suspected of adopting technology exposed from America's NSA organization. Ryuk goes after specific organizations with limited room for disruption and is among the most lucrative examples of ransomware. Well Known targets include Data Resolution, a California-based info warehousing and cloud computing business, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a small manufacturing business headquartered in the Chicago metro area and has around 500 employees. The Ryuk attack had shut down all company operations and manufacturing capabilities. Most of the client's system backups had been online at the start of the intrusion and were destroyed. The client was pursuing financing for paying the ransom (in excess of two hundred thousand dollars) and praying for good luck, but in the end engaged Progent.

Progent worked hand in hand the client to quickly understand and assign priority to the mission critical systems that had to be addressed in order to resume company operations:

• Microsoft Active Directory
• Microsoft Exchange Email
• Financials/MRP

Within two days, Progent was able to restore Windows Active Directory to its pre-virus state. Progent then initiated reinstallations and hard drive recovery on the most important applications. All Exchange Server schema and configuration information were usable, which greatly helped the rebuild of Exchange. Progent was able to assemble non-encrypted OST files (Outlook Email Off-Line Data Files) on team desktop computers in order to recover email information. A not too old off-line backup of the customer's financials/MRP software made them able to recover these required applications back servicing users. Although a large amount of work remained to recover totally from the Ryuk attack, the most important services were returned to operations quickly:

Throughout the next few weeks critical milestones in the restoration project were completed in tight cooperation between Progent team members and the client:

• In-house web applications were restored with no loss of data.
• The MailStore Microsoft Exchange Server with over four million historical messages was brought on-line and available for users.
• CRM/Product Ordering/Invoicing/Accounts Payable (AP)/Accounts Receivables (AR)/Inventory functions were fully operational.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 security appliance was installed and configured.
• Most of the user PCs were functioning as before the incident.

Conclusion
A potential business disaster was averted through the efforts of top-tier professionals, a wide spectrum of IT skills, and tight collaboration. Although in analyzing the event afterwards the crypto-ransomware attack detailed here could have been identified and stopped with advanced cyber security solutions and security best practices, staff training, and properly executed incident response procedures for data backup and keeping systems up to date with security patches, the fact is that government-sponsored criminal cyber gangs from Russia, China and elsewhere are relentless and will continue. If you do get hit by a ransomware incursion, feel confident that Progent's roster of experts has proven experience in crypto-ransomware virus defense, cleanup, and data restoration.

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

Additional Crypto-Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent offers companies in Anaheim a variety of online monitoring and security evaluation services designed to assist you to reduce the threat from crypto-ransomware. These services utilize next-generation machine learning technology to uncover zero-day variants of ransomware that can evade traditional signature-based security products.

• ProSight Managed Service Plans: for Small to Mid-size Businesses
  Progent's ProSight Managed IT Service Plans make it feasible for small and mid-size businesses to deploy Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solutions to create advanced network resilience. Progent handles the necessary monitoring and management for you, so your network expands easily without becoming an obstacle. For a low and predictable monthly price, Progent's full-service IT team can be your dependable technology safety net. Basic packages include RMM, security, monthly patching, and documentation. As your needs expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to best-in-class solutions like as SaaS M365/Google Workspace backup, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), pen testing, or WiFi management.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Remote Monitoring
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop remote monitoring service that incorporates advanced remote monitoring and management (RMM) techniques to help keep your IT system operating at peak levels by tracking the state of critical computers that power your information system. When ProSight LAN Watch detects a problem, an alert is sent automatically to your designated IT management staff and your Progent engineering consultant so any potential issues can be addressed before they can disrupt your network. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring services.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Centralized RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software delivers a unified, cloud-based solution for monitoring and managing your client-server infrastructure by offering tools for streamlining common tedious tasks. These can include health monitoring, update management, automated repairs, endpoint configuration, backup and recovery, anti-virus protection, remote access, standard and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint profile reporting, and debugging help. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM spots a serious issue, it transmits an alarm to your designated IT management staff and your Progent consultant so that potential problems can be fixed before they impact your network. Find out more details about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop remote monitoring consulting.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Infrastructure Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is an infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it simple and inexpensive for small and mid-sized organizations to map out, monitor, enhance and debug their networking hardware like routers, firewalls, and load balancers as well as servers, endpoints and other devices. Incorporating state-of-the-art RMM technology, ProSight WAN Watch ensures that infrastructure topology maps are always current, copies and manages the configuration information of almost all devices on your network, monitors performance, and sends alerts when issues are discovered. By automating complex management activities, ProSight WAN Watch can cut hours off common chores like network mapping, reconfiguring your network, locating appliances that need important software patches, or resolving performance bottlenecks. Learn more details about ProSight WAN Watch network infrastructure monitoring and management services.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Applications
  ProSight Reporting is a growing suite of in-depth management reporting plug-ins designed to work with the top ticketing and remote network monitoring applications including ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting incorporates Microsoft Graph and features color coding to surface and contextualize key issues like spotty support follow-through or machines with out-of-date AVs. By exposing ticketing or network health concerns concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting enhances network value, reduces management hassle, and saves money. For details, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring platforms.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has partnered with advanced backup technology providers to produce ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a family of subscription-based offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS services automate and monitor your data backup operations and enable transparent backup and fast restoration of critical files/folders, apps, images, and VMs. ProSight DPS helps your business avoid data loss caused by equipment failures, natural disasters, fire, cyber attacks like ransomware, user mistakes, malicious insiders, or software bugs. Managed backup services in the ProSight DPS portfolio include ProSight Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight ECHO Backup based on Barracuda dedicated storage, and ProSight MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent consultant can help you to determine 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 and email encryption service that uses the infrastructure of leading data security companies to provide centralized management and comprehensive protection for all your email traffic. The hybrid structure of Email Guard managed service integrates cloud-based filtering with a local security gateway device to offer complete defense against spam, viruses, Denial of Service Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks, and other email-borne malware. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer acts as a preliminary barricade and keeps most unwanted email from reaching your network firewall. This reduces your exposure to external attacks and saves system bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's on-premises gateway appliance adds a further level of inspection for inbound email. For outbound email, the on-premises gateway offers anti-virus and anti-spam filtering, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The local security gateway can also assist Exchange Server to track and protect internal email traffic that stays within your corporate firewall. For more details, see ProSight Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Remediation, and Secure Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo MFA managed services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you log into a protected online account and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a device that only you have and that uses a separate network channel. A wide range of devices can be used as this added means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Help Center: Help Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Support Center managed services permit your IT team to offload Call Center services to Progent or divide responsibilities for Help Desk services transparently between your internal support resources and Progent's nationwide roster of IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service provides a transparent supplement to your in-house network support resources. End user access to the Help Desk, delivery of support, issue escalation, trouble ticket creation and tracking, efficiency measurement, and maintenance of the service database are cohesive whether issues are resolved by your internal network support organization, by Progent, or both. Find out more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Help Center services.

• Progent Active Protection Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Identification and Cleanup
  Progent's Active Defense Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection (EPP) solution that incorporates next generation behavior machine learning tools to guard endpoint devices and servers and VMs against new malware attacks such as ransomware and email phishing, which easily evade legacy signature-matching anti-virus products. Progent Active Security Monitoring services safeguard on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to manage the complete threat progression including blocking, infiltration detection, mitigation, remediation, and forensics. Top capabilities include one-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic network-wide immunization against newly discovered attacks. Find out more about Progent's ransomware defense and cleanup 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 capture, update, find and protect data about your IT infrastructure, processes, business apps, and services. You can instantly find passwords or serial numbers and be alerted automatically about impending expirations of SSL certificates or warranties. By cleaning up and organizing your IT documentation, you can save as much as 50% of time thrown away looking for critical information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a common location for holding and collaborating on all documents required for managing your network infrastructure such as recommended procedures and self-service instructions. ProSight IT Asset Management also offers a high level of automation for collecting and associating IT data. Whether you're making improvements, performing regular maintenance, or reacting to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the knowledge you require when you need it. Find out more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for software and firmware patch management provide organizations of any size a flexible and cost-effective solution for assessing, testing, scheduling, implementing, and tracking updates to your ever-evolving information network. In addition to optimizing the protection and functionality of your computer network, Progent's patch management services free up time for your IT team to focus on more strategic projects and tasks that deliver the highest business value from your information network. Find out 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 organization can have its key servers and applications hosted in a protected Tier III data center on a high-performance virtual host set up and maintained by Progent's IT support professionals. Under the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the customer owns the data, the OS software, and the apps. Because the environment is virtualized, it can be moved easily to an alternate hosting environment without requiring a time-consuming and technically risky reinstallation procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not tied a single hosting service. Learn more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  ProSight Active Security Monitoring is an endpoint protection (EPP) service that utilizes SentinelOne's next generation behavior-based analysis tools to defend physical and virtual endpoints against modern malware attacks such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which easily get by traditional signature-based AV products. ProSight ASM protects local and cloud-based resources and provides a unified platform to manage the entire threat lifecycle including protection, detection, mitigation, cleanup, and forensics. Top capabilities include one-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and real-time network-wide immunization against newly discovered threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP): Physical and Virtual Endpoint Protection and Microsoft Exchange Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) services offer affordable in-depth protection for physical and virtual servers, workstations, smartphones, and Exchange email. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for continuously monitoring and responding to security assaults from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP offers firewall protection, intrusion alarms, device management, and web filtering through cutting-edge tools packaged within one agent managed from a single control. Progent's data protection and virtualization experts can help you to plan and implement a ProSight ESP deployment that meets your organization's unique needs and that helps you prove compliance with legal and industry data protection regulations. Progent will assist you specify and configure security policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and react to alarms that require urgent attention. Progent's consultants can also help you to install and verify a backup and disaster recovery solution such as ProSight Data Protection Services so you can get back in business rapidly from a destructive cyber attack like ransomware. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified physical and virtual endpoint security and Microsoft Exchange filtering.