24-Hour Campinas Urgent Ransomware
Computer Malware Identification and Repair Services

Ransomware : Your Worst IT Catastrophe
Ransomware has become a too-frequent cyberplague that poses an existential threat for organizations unprepared for an assault. Versions of crypto-ransomware such as CryptoLocker, WannaCry, Bad Rabbit, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been out in the wild for many years and continue to inflict damage. More recent variants of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, Snatch or Nephilim, as well as additional unnamed malware, not only do encryption of on-line information but also infect most accessible system backups. Information replicated to cloud environments can also be corrupted. In a vulnerable environment, this can render automated recovery impossible and effectively knocks the entire system back to square one.

Retrieving applications and information after a ransomware attack becomes a race against time as the victim fights to stop lateral movement, clear the virus, and restore business-critical operations. Since ransomware needs time to move laterally, attacks are usually sprung during weekends and nights, when successful penetrations typically take more time to recognize. This compounds the difficulty of quickly marshalling and orchestrating a capable mitigation team.

Progent makes available an assortment of solutions for securing enterprises from ransomware attacks. Among these are team member training to help recognize and not fall victim to phishing attempts, ProSight Active Security Monitoring for remote monitoring and management, in addition to deployment of next-generation security gateways with AI technology from SentinelOne to detect and suppress new cyber threats quickly. Progent in addition offers the assistance of veteran ransomware recovery engineers with the talent and commitment to reconstruct a breached network as urgently as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Help
After a crypto-ransomware event, sending the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that merciless criminals will respond with the needed codes to unencrypt all your files. Kaspersky estimated that seventeen percent of crypto-ransomware victims never recovered their data even after having paid the ransom, resulting in more losses. The risk is also very costly. Ryuk ransoms are commonly a few hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom demand can reach millions. The alternative is to setup from scratch the critical components of your IT environment. Without access to full system backups, this requires a broad complement of skills, well-coordinated team management, and the willingness to work continuously until the job is finished.

For decades, Progent has offered certified expert IT services for companies throughout the United States and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's pool of subject matter experts includes engineers who have been awarded advanced industry certifications in key technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity engineers have earned internationally-renowned certifications including CISM, CISSP-ISSAP, ISACA CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Refer to Progent's certifications). Progent also has experience with financial systems and ERP applications. This breadth of experience affords Progent the capability to knowledgably understand critical systems and re-organize the surviving pieces of your computer network system following a ransomware attack and assemble them into an operational network.

Progent's recovery team of experts has state-of-the-art project management applications to orchestrate the complex recovery process. Progent appreciates the importance of working swiftly and in concert with a client's management and IT staff to assign priority to tasks and to get key services back on line as soon as possible.

Client Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Virus Recovery
A client sought out Progent after their organization was taken over by Ryuk ransomware virus. Ryuk is thought to have been created by Northern Korean state sponsored hackers, possibly using techniques leaked from the United States NSA organization. Ryuk targets specific organizations with limited tolerance for operational disruption and is one of the most profitable incarnations of ransomware. Major targets include Data Resolution, a California-based data warehousing and cloud computing business, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a small manufacturer located in the Chicago metro area and has around 500 employees. The Ryuk intrusion had shut down all company operations and manufacturing processes. The majority of the client's data protection had been on-line at the start of the attack and were destroyed. The client considered paying the ransom (in excess of $200,000) and hoping for the best, but ultimately reached out to Progent.

Progent worked together with the client to rapidly identify and assign priority to the mission critical areas that needed to be addressed to make it possible to restart company operations:

• Windows Active Directory
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Financials/MRP

Within two days, Progent was able to recover Windows Active Directory to its pre-penetration state. Progent then helped perform rebuilding and storage recovery on needed systems. All Exchange Server data and configuration information were usable, which greatly helped the restore of Exchange. Progent was also able to assemble intact OST data files (Microsoft Outlook Offline Folder Files) on user PCs in order to recover mail messages. A recent off-line backup of the businesses accounting/ERP software made it possible to recover these essential programs back on-line. Although major work still had to be done to recover completely from the Ryuk event, core services were recovered quickly:

Throughout the following month important milestones in the recovery process were achieved through close collaboration between Progent engineers and the client:

• Self-hosted web applications were brought back up without losing any information.
• The MailStore Server containing more than 4 million archived messages was restored to operations and accessible to users.
• CRM/Orders/Invoicing/AP/AR/Inventory Control modules were 100 percent restored.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 security appliance was set up.
• Ninety percent of the user desktops were back into operation.

Conclusion
A possible business-killing catastrophe was dodged by results-oriented experts, a wide array of subject matter expertise, and close collaboration. Although in hindsight the crypto-ransomware virus attack described here should have been identified and stopped with advanced security technology and NIST Cybersecurity Framework or ISO/IEC 27001 best practices, team education, and appropriate security procedures for backup and proper patching controls, the fact remains that state-sponsored cybercriminals from Russia, China and elsewhere are relentless and represent an ongoing threat. If you do get hit by a ransomware penetration, feel confident that Progent's team of professionals has extensive experience in crypto-ransomware virus defense, cleanup, and data disaster recovery.

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

Additional Crypto-Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent can provide businesses in Campinas a portfolio of remote monitoring and security assessment services to help you to reduce your vulnerability to ransomware. These services incorporate next-generation AI capability to uncover new variants of ransomware that are able to evade legacy signature-based security solutions.

• ProSight Managed Service Packages: for Small to Mid-size Businesses
  Progent's ProSight Managed IT Service Packages make it feasible for small and mid-size companies to utilize Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology to achieve advanced IT resilience. Progent takes care of the necessary monitoring and management for you, so your network scales smoothly without holding you back. For an affordable and predictable monthly subscription, Progent's full-service IT group can be your dependable technology safety net. Entry-level packages include remote monitoring and management, cybersecurity, automatic monthly patching, and reporting. As your requirements expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to advanced solutions like as SaaS M365/Google Workspace backup, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), pen testing, or WiFi management.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Monitoring
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring managed service that incorporates state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management techniques to keep your network running efficiently by checking the state of vital computers that power your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch detects a problem, an alert is sent automatically to your designated IT management personnel and your assigned Progent consultant so any potential problems can be addressed before they have a chance to impact your network. Find out more details about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring services.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Unified RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Desktops
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software offers a unified, cloud-based platform for managing your network, server, and desktop devices by offering tools for performing common time-consuming jobs. These can include health monitoring, update management, automated remediation, endpoint deployment, backup and recovery, anti-virus defense, remote access, built-in and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint profile reporting, and debugging help. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious problem, it sends an alarm to your specified IT management personnel and your Progent consultant so that potential issues can be taken care of before they impact productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop remote monitoring consulting.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Network Infrastructure Management
  Progent's ProSight WAN Watch is a network infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it easy and affordable for small and mid-sized organizations to map, track, optimize and debug their networking hardware like routers, firewalls, and load balancers plus servers, endpoints and other devices. Incorporating cutting-edge Remote Monitoring and Management technology, ProSight WAN Watch makes sure that infrastructure topology diagrams are always updated, copies and displays the configuration information of virtually all devices connected to your network, monitors performance, and sends alerts when problems are detected. By automating tedious management processes, WAN Watch can cut hours off common tasks like network mapping, reconfiguring your network, finding devices that need important software patches, or identifying the cause of performance issues. Learn more about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure management services.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Applications
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding suite of real-time and in-depth management reporting utilities created to integrate with the top ticketing and network monitoring platforms such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to highlight and contextualize critical issues like spotty support follow-through or endpoints with out-of-date AVs. By identifying ticketing or network health concerns concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting enhances productivity, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For more information, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring platforms.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Managed Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with advanced backup software providers to produce ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a portfolio of management outsourcing plans that provide backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS services automate and monitor your data backup operations and allow non-disruptive backup and rapid restoration of important files/folders, applications, images, plus Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines. ProSight DPS lets you avoid data loss resulting from hardware failures, natural calamities, fire, cyber attacks such as ransomware, user mistakes, ill-intentioned insiders, or software glitches. Managed backup services available in the ProSight DPS product line include ProSight Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight ECHO Backup based on Barracuda dedicated hardware, and ProSight DPS MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent expert can assist you to identify which of these managed services are best suited 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 incorporates the infrastructure of leading data security companies to provide web-based control and world-class protection for your inbound and outbound email. The powerful structure of Progent's Email Guard combines a Cloud Protection Layer with a local security gateway appliance to provide complete protection against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks, DHAs, and other email-based malware. The cloud filter serves as a preliminary barricade and blocks the vast majority of unwanted email from making it to your network firewall. This decreases your exposure to external attacks and saves system bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's on-premises security gateway device adds a deeper layer of inspection for inbound email. For outbound email, the on-premises security gateway offers anti-virus and anti-spam protection, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The on-premises gateway can also help Microsoft Exchange Server to monitor and safeguard internal email that stays within your security perimeter. For more information, see ProSight Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: Access Security, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Secure Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo authentication service plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a protected application and give your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized as this added means of authentication such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Call Desk: Call Center Managed Services
  Progent's Support Desk managed services enable your IT team to outsource Support Desk services to Progent or split activity for support services transparently between your internal support resources and Progent's nationwide roster of certified IT support technicians, engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's Shared Service Desk provides a smooth extension of your corporate network support staff. User access to the Help Desk, delivery of support services, problem escalation, ticket creation and tracking, efficiency measurement, and management of the support database are consistent whether incidents are resolved by your corporate IT support organization, by Progent's team, or by a combination. Find out more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Service Desk services.

• Active Protection Against Ransomware: Machine Learning-based Ransomware Identification and Remediation
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection managed service that utilizes cutting edge behavior machine learning technology to guard endpoint devices as well as servers and VMs against new malware assaults like ransomware and file-less exploits, which easily get by legacy signature-based anti-virus products. Progent Active Security Monitoring services protect on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to address the complete malware attack lifecycle including blocking, infiltration detection, containment, remediation, and forensics. Top features include single-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time network-wide immunization against new threats. Learn more about Progent's ransomware protection and recovery services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  ProSight IT Asset Management service is a cloud-based IT documentation management service that makes it easy to create, update, retrieve and safeguard information related to your IT infrastructure, procedures, business apps, and services. You can quickly find passwords or serial numbers and be warned about upcoming expirations of SSL certificates or warranties. By updating and organizing your IT infrastructure documentation, you can save up to 50% of time thrown away trying to find vital information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a common location for storing and sharing all documents required for managing your business network like recommended procedures and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports advanced automation for gathering and associating IT information. Whether you're planning enhancements, doing maintenance, or reacting to an emergency, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the information you need as soon as you need it. Read more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services
  Progent's support services for software and firmware patch management provide organizations of all sizes a versatile and cost-effective alternative for assessing, testing, scheduling, implementing, and tracking updates to your dynamic IT system. In addition to optimizing the protection and reliability of your computer environment, Progent's patch management services free up time for your in-house IT team to concentrate on more strategic projects and activities that deliver the highest business value from your information network. Read more about Progent's software/firmware update management support services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's Tier III Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small organization can have its critical servers and apps hosted in a protected fault tolerant data center on a fast virtual machine host set up and maintained by Progent's IT support experts. With the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the customer retains ownership of the data, the operating system software, and the apps. Because the system is virtualized, it can be moved easily to an alternate hosting environment without requiring a lengthy and technically risky configuration procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, your business is not tied one hosting service. Learn more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring is an endpoint protection (EPP) service that utilizes SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior-based machine learning technology to guard physical and virtual endpoints against modern malware attacks like ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely evade traditional signature-matching anti-virus tools. ProSight ASM protects local and cloud resources and offers a single platform to address the entire malware attack lifecycle including filtering, detection, containment, remediation, and forensics. Top capabilities include one-click rollback with Windows VSS and automatic system-wide immunization against newly discovered attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Endpoint Security and Exchange Email Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) services offer affordable in-depth security for physical servers and VMs, desktops, mobile devices, and Exchange Server. ProSight ESP uses adaptive security and advanced machine learning for round-the-clock monitoring and reacting to security assaults from all vectors. ProSight ESP delivers firewall protection, intrusion alerts, endpoint control, and web filtering through cutting-edge technologies incorporated within a single agent managed from a single console. Progent's data protection and virtualization experts can help your business to design and configure a ProSight ESP deployment that meets your company's specific requirements and that allows you achieve and demonstrate compliance with legal and industry data security standards. Progent will help you define and implement security policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and respond to alarms that call for urgent action. Progent can also assist you to install and test a backup and restore solution such as ProSight Data Protection Services so you can get back in business rapidly from a destructive cyber attack like ransomware. Read more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified endpoint protection and Microsoft Exchange email filtering.