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Crypto-Ransomware : Your Feared Information Technology Catastrophe
Crypto-Ransomware has become a too-frequent cyber pandemic that presents an existential threat for businesses of all sizes poorly prepared for an assault. Multiple generations of crypto-ransomware such as CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, NotPetya and MongoLock cryptoworms have been circulating for many years and still inflict havoc. The latest strains of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Conti or Egregor, plus frequent unnamed viruses, not only encrypt on-line data files but also infect any accessible system protection mechanisms. Information synchronized to off-site disaster recovery sites can also be corrupted. In a poorly designed system, this can make automated recovery impossible and effectively knocks the network back to square one.

Getting back online services and data following a crypto-ransomware outage becomes a race against time as the targeted business fights to stop lateral movement, clear the ransomware, and restore business-critical activity. Because crypto-ransomware takes time to move laterally, attacks are frequently launched on weekends, when successful penetrations are likely to take more time to discover. This multiplies the difficulty of rapidly assembling and orchestrating an experienced response team.

Progent provides a range of help services for protecting businesses from crypto-ransomware penetrations. These include team training to help recognize and not fall victim to phishing exploits, ProSight Active Security Monitoring for remote monitoring and management, in addition to setup and configuration of modern security solutions with AI technology from SentinelOne to discover and suppress day-zero threats automatically. Progent also offers the services of seasoned ransomware recovery consultants with the track record and perseverance to rebuild a compromised environment as soon as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Restoration Help
Soon after a crypto-ransomware attack, even paying the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not guarantee that criminal gangs will respond with the needed codes to decipher any or all of your files. Kaspersky ascertained that 17% of crypto-ransomware victims never restored their data after having paid the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The risk is also expensive. Ryuk ransoms are often several hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom can reach millions of dollars. The other path is to piece back together the mission-critical parts of your IT environment. Absent the availability of full data backups, this requires a broad complement of skills, well-coordinated project management, and the willingness to work continuously until the recovery project is over.

For decades, Progent has offered expert IT services for businesses across the U.S. and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's pool of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes engineers who have been awarded top industry certifications in key technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity engineers have garnered internationally-recognized industry certifications including CISM, CISSP-ISSAP, CRISC, SANS GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Visit Progent's certifications). Progent also has experience with accounting and ERP software solutions. This breadth of expertise gives Progent the ability to efficiently ascertain critical systems and organize the surviving components of your Information Technology environment after a ransomware event and configure them into an operational system.

Progent's security team deploys best of breed project management applications to orchestrate the complicated recovery process. Progent knows the urgency of acting rapidly and together with a client's management and Information Technology team members to prioritize tasks and to put key applications back on-line as fast as humanly possible.

Client Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Incident Recovery
A customer sought out Progent after their network was crashed by the Ryuk crypto-ransomware. Ryuk is thought to have been launched by North Korean state criminal gangs, suspected of using approaches exposed from the United States NSA organization. Ryuk seeks specific organizations with little room for disruption and is among the most profitable incarnations of ransomware. Major targets include Data Resolution, a California-based information warehousing and cloud computing business, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's client is a small manufacturing business based in the Chicago metro area with about 500 workers. The Ryuk attack had frozen all business operations and manufacturing processes. The majority of the client's data protection had been on-line at the start of the intrusion and were encrypted. The client considered paying the ransom demand (in excess of two hundred thousand dollars) and hoping for good luck, but ultimately engaged Progent.

Progent worked with the customer to quickly identify and prioritize the essential applications that had to be restored in order to resume business functions:

• Active Directory
• Electronic Mail
• Financials/MRP

Within 48 hours, Progent was able to recover Active Directory to its pre-attack state. Progent then charged ahead with rebuilding and storage recovery on the most important applications. All Microsoft Exchange Server schema and attributes were usable, which greatly helped the restore of Exchange. Progent was able to locate local OST data files (Outlook Offline Folder Files) on staff desktop computers in order to recover email data. A not too old offline backup of the customer's accounting software made them able to restore these essential services back online for users. Although a large amount of work needed to be completed to recover fully from the Ryuk damage, core systems were returned to operations rapidly:

Throughout the following month key milestones in the recovery project were achieved in tight cooperation between Progent consultants and the client:

• Internal web applications were returned to operation with no loss of data.
• The MailStore Exchange Server exceeding 4 million archived emails was restored to operations and accessible to users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoicing/Accounts Payable/AR/Inventory Control modules were 100 percent restored.
• A new Palo Alto 850 security appliance was set up and programmed.
• Nearly all of the user workstations were fully operational.

Conclusion
A likely business-ending catastrophe was dodged due to hard-working experts, a wide range of subject matter expertise, and close teamwork. Although in retrospect the ransomware penetration detailed here would have been disabled with current security technology solutions and recognized best practices, staff training, and properly executed incident response procedures for data protection and applying software patches, the reality is that government-sponsored cybercriminals from Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are tireless and are not going away. If you do get hit by a ransomware incursion, feel confident that Progent's roster of professionals has a proven track record in ransomware virus defense, remediation, and data disaster recovery.

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

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent offers businesses in Joinville a range of remote monitoring and security evaluation services designed to help you to reduce the threat from ransomware. These services include next-generation machine learning capability to detect zero-day variants of crypto-ransomware that are able to escape detection by legacy signature-based anti-virus products.

• ProSight Managed Service Packages: for Small to Mid-size Businesses
  Progent's ProSight Managed IT Service Packages make it realistic for small and mid-size companies to utilize Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology to achieve leading-edge network resilience. Progent handles the necessary monitoring and maintenance for you, so your system scales smoothly without holding you back. For a low and predictable monthly subscription, Progent's full-service IT group can be your dependable technology safety net. Basic packages include remote monitoring and management, cybersecurity, automatic monthly patching, and reporting. As your requirements expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to best-of-breed options such as SaaS M365/Google Workspace backup and restore, 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 remote monitoring managed service that incorporates state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management (RMM) techniques to keep your network running at peak levels by tracking the health of vital computers that power your information system. When ProSight LAN Watch detects an issue, an alarm is transmitted automatically to your designated IT staff and your Progent consultant so that any potential problems can be resolved before they have a chance to impact productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring consulting.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Unified RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software offers a centralized, cloud-based solution for monitoring and managing your client-server infrastructure by providing an environment for streamlining common time-consuming jobs. These can include health monitoring, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint configuration, backup and recovery, A/V protection, remote access, built-in and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint profile reports, and debugging assistance. When ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious problem, it transmits an alert to your designated IT management personnel and your Progent consultant so emerging issues can be fixed before they impact productivity. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop remote monitoring consulting.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Network Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is a network infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it easy and affordable for small and mid-sized organizations to diagram, monitor, optimize and troubleshoot their networking hardware like switches, firewalls, and load balancers plus servers, printers, endpoints and other networked devices. Incorporating cutting-edge RMM technology, WAN Watch ensures that infrastructure topology maps are kept updated, captures and displays the configuration of almost all devices connected to your network, monitors performance, and sends notices when issues are detected. By automating complex network management processes, WAN Watch can knock hours off ordinary tasks such as network mapping, reconfiguring your network, locating appliances that need critical software patches, or identifying the cause of performance problems. Find out more details about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure monitoring and management services.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Applications
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding line of real-time management reporting plug-ins designed to work with the leading ticketing and remote network monitoring applications such as 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 out-of-date AVs. By exposing ticketing or network health problems concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves network value, lowers management overhead, and saves money. For details, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring platforms.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Managed Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has partnered with leading backup/restore software companies to create ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a portfolio of subscription-based offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS products automate and track your backup operations and enable transparent backup and rapid restoration of vital files, apps, images, plus VMs. ProSight DPS helps your business protect against data loss resulting from equipment breakdown, natural disasters, fire, malware such as ransomware, human mistakes, ill-intentioned employees, or software glitches. Managed backup services in the ProSight DPS product family include ProSight Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight ECHO Backup using Barracuda purpose-built storage, and ProSight MSP360 Cloud and On-prem Backup. Your Progent service representative can help you to determine which of these fully 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 and virus filtering and email encryption service that uses the technology of leading data security companies to deliver centralized control and comprehensive security for your email traffic. The powerful structure of Email Guard managed service integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with an on-premises security gateway device to provide advanced protection against spam, viruses, Denial of Service Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks (DHAs), and other email-borne threats. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer serves as a preliminary barricade and keeps the vast majority of threats from reaching your network firewall. This reduces your vulnerability to inbound attacks and conserves network bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's onsite security gateway device adds a deeper layer of analysis for inbound email. For outbound email, the onsite security gateway offers AV and anti-spam filtering, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The local security gateway can also help Exchange Server to track and protect internal email traffic that originates and ends within your corporate firewall. For more details, visit ProSight Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Protected Single Sign-on
  Progent's Duo MFA managed services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this added form of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register several verification devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for access security.

• Outsourced/Co-managed Call Center: Support Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Support Desk services allow your information technology group to outsource Support Desk services to Progent or divide responsibilities for Service Desk support transparently between your in-house support group and Progent's nationwide pool of IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Shared Help Desk Service provides a smooth supplement to your in-house network support staff. Client interaction with the Help Desk, provision of technical assistance, escalation, ticket creation and updates, performance measurement, and management of the service database are cohesive whether issues are taken care of by your corporate IT support organization, by Progent, or by a combination. Find out more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Service Desk services.

• Progent Active Defense Against Ransomware: Machine Learning-based Ransomware Identification and Cleanup
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection (EPP) solution that incorporates cutting edge behavior-based machine learning technology to defend endpoint devices as well as physical and virtual servers against modern malware assaults like ransomware and email phishing, which easily get by legacy signature-matching anti-virus products. Progent ASM services safeguard local and cloud resources and provides a unified platform to address the entire threat progression including filtering, identification, mitigation, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include single-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic network-wide immunization against new attacks. Read 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 makes it easy to capture, update, retrieve and protect data about your IT infrastructure, procedures, applications, and services. You can quickly locate passwords or IP addresses and be alerted about impending expirations of SSLs ,domains or warranties. By updating and organizing your IT infrastructure documentation, you can eliminate as much as 50% of time thrown away trying to find vital information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a common repository for storing and sharing all documents required for managing your business network such as recommended procedures and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports a high level of automation for gathering and associating IT information. Whether you're making enhancements, performing maintenance, or responding to an emergency, ProSight IT Asset Management gets you the information you require as soon as you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for patch management provide organizations of all sizes a flexible and affordable alternative for evaluating, validating, scheduling, applying, and tracking updates to your ever-evolving IT network. Besides maximizing the protection and reliability of your IT environment, Progent's software/firmware update management services free up time for your in-house IT team to concentrate on line-of-business projects and tasks that derive maximum business value from your network. Find out more about Progent's patch management support services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small organization can have its key servers and apps hosted in a protected Tier III data center on a fast virtual machine host configured and maintained by Progent's IT support experts. With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service model, the client owns the data, the operating system software, and the applications. Because the environment is virtualized, it can be ported easily to an alternate hardware environment without requiring a lengthy and difficult reinstallation process. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not tied a single hosting service. Find out 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 analysis technology to defend physical and virtual endpoint devices against new malware attacks such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which easily escape legacy signature-matching AV products. ProSight Active Security Monitoring protects on-premises and cloud resources and offers a single platform to automate the entire threat lifecycle including protection, identification, containment, remediation, and forensics. Key capabilities include one-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time system-wide immunization against new threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Read more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP): Endpoint Protection and Exchange Email Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection managed services offer ultra-affordable in-depth security for physical servers and virtual machines, workstations, smartphones, and Exchange email. ProSight ESP uses contextual security and advanced machine learning for round-the-clock monitoring and responding to security threats from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers two-way firewall protection, intrusion alerts, endpoint control, and web filtering via cutting-edge technologies incorporated within a single agent accessible from a single console. Progent's data protection and virtualization experts can assist your business to plan and implement a ProSight ESP deployment that meets your company's unique needs and that helps you achieve and demonstrate compliance with government and industry information security standards. Progent will help you specify and implement policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and respond to alerts that call for immediate action. Progent's consultants can also help you to set up and verify a backup and restore system like ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover quickly from a destructive security attack such as ransomware. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified endpoint security and Exchange filtering.