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Ransomware : Your Worst Information Technology Catastrophe
Crypto-Ransomware has become an escalating cyberplague that presents an extinction-level danger for organizations unprepared for an attack. Different iterations of ransomware like the CrySIS, Fusob, Locky, NotPetya and MongoLock cryptoworms have been replicating for a long time and still cause havoc. Newer strains of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, LockBit or Nephilim, along with additional unnamed malware, not only encrypt on-line information but also infect all available system backup. Information synchronized to cloud environments can also be encrypted. In a vulnerable data protection solution, it can render automatic restoration useless and basically knocks the entire system back to square one.

Retrieving services and data following a ransomware intrusion becomes a race against the clock as the targeted business tries its best to stop lateral movement, eradicate the ransomware, and restore mission-critical operations. Because ransomware requires time to move laterally, attacks are frequently launched on weekends and holidays, when successful attacks typically take more time to detect. This compounds the difficulty of promptly marshalling and organizing a capable mitigation team.

Progent has an assortment of services for securing organizations from ransomware penetrations. Among these are team member education to help recognize and avoid phishing attempts, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, plus installation of next-generation security solutions with artificial intelligence technology from SentinelOne to discover and extinguish day-zero cyber threats quickly. Progent in addition offers the services of expert ransomware recovery professionals with the talent and commitment to re-deploy a breached environment as quickly as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Services
Following a ransomware penetration, sending the ransom in cryptocurrency does not ensure that cyber hackers will respond with the needed codes to decipher any of your information. Kaspersky Labs determined that 17% of crypto-ransomware victims never recovered their data after having paid the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The risk is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are commonly a few hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom demand can be in the millions. The other path is to setup from scratch the essential parts of your IT environment. Without access to complete system backups, this requires a wide complement of IT skills, well-coordinated team management, and the capability to work non-stop until the task is completed.

For decades, Progent has offered certified expert IT services for companies across the U.S. and has achieved Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's group of subject matter experts includes consultants who have earned top industry certifications in important technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity engineers have garnered internationally-recognized certifications including CISA, CISSP-ISSAP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Refer to Progent's certifications). Progent also has expertise with accounting and ERP software solutions. This breadth of expertise gives Progent the skills to rapidly ascertain important systems and integrate the surviving components of your computer network environment after a ransomware attack and rebuild them into a functioning network.

Progent's security group utilizes best of breed project management applications to coordinate the complex restoration process. Progent appreciates the importance of acting quickly and in concert with a customer's management and IT staff to prioritize tasks and to get essential services back on-line as fast as humanly possible.

Customer Story: A Successful Ransomware Incident Restoration
A small business engaged Progent after their network system was taken over by the Ryuk ransomware. Ryuk is believed to have been developed by Northern Korean state cybercriminals, possibly adopting approaches exposed from the U.S. National Security Agency. Ryuk goes after specific companies with little tolerance for disruption and is among the most profitable iterations of ransomware malware. Well Known victims include Data Resolution, a California-based information warehousing and cloud computing company, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's client is a small manufacturing company located in the Chicago metro area and has around 500 workers. The Ryuk event had paralyzed all essential operations and manufacturing processes. Most of the client's system backups had been online at the start of the intrusion and were eventually encrypted. The client considered paying the ransom demand (more than $200,000) and hoping for the best, but in the end reached out to Progent.

Progent worked hand in hand the client to rapidly assess and prioritize the critical applications that needed to be recovered in order to resume business functions:

• Microsoft Active Directory
• Electronic Messaging
• Accounting and Manufacturing Software

In less than 2 days, Progent was able to rebuild Active Directory services to its pre-penetration state. Progent then performed rebuilding and hard drive recovery on key applications. All Exchange data and attributes were usable, which accelerated the rebuild of Exchange. Progent was also able to find local OST data files (Microsoft Outlook Offline Folder Files) on user PCs and laptops in order to recover mail data. A recent off-line backup of the businesses accounting/ERP systems made them able to return these essential applications back available to users. Although a large amount of work was left to recover totally from the Ryuk virus, essential systems were returned to operations rapidly:

During the following month key milestones in the recovery project were accomplished in tight cooperation between Progent team members and the client:

• In-house web applications were brought back up with no loss of data.
• The MailStore Exchange Server containing more than four million historical messages was restored to operations and available for users.
• CRM/Product Ordering/Invoicing/AP/AR/Inventory Control capabilities were completely operational.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 firewall was installed and configured.
• Ninety percent of the user desktops and notebooks were back into operation.

Conclusion
A likely company-ending disaster was dodged by hard-working professionals, a wide range of IT skills, and close teamwork. Although in retrospect the ransomware virus incident described here should have been identified and stopped with modern security technology and NIST Cybersecurity Framework best practices, user and IT administrator education, and well thought out incident response procedures for data protection and proper patching controls, the reality remains that state-sponsored cybercriminals from Russia, China and elsewhere are tireless and will continue. If you do fall victim to a crypto-ransomware penetration, feel confident that Progent's team of experts has a proven track record in ransomware virus defense, remediation, and information systems disaster recovery.

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

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent offers businesses in Richmond a range of remote monitoring and security evaluation services designed to assist you to minimize the threat from ransomware. These services incorporate modern artificial intelligence technology to detect new variants of ransomware that are able to get past traditional signature-based anti-virus products.

• ProSight Managed Service Packages: for Small to Mid-size Businesses
  Progent's ProSight Managed IT Service Plans make it realistic for small and mid-size companies to utilize Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology to create advanced network resilience. Progent handles the daily monitoring and management for you, so your system scales easily without holding you back. For an affordable and predictable monthly subscription, Progent's experienced IT team can be your complete technology safety net. Basic packages include remote monitoring and management (RMM), security, automatic monthly patching, and reporting. As your requirements expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to best-of-breed 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 and Management
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop 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 state of critical computers that drive your information system. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alarm is transmitted automatically to your designated IT management staff and your Progent consultant so that any looming issues can be resolved before they have a chance to impact your network. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop remote monitoring services.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Unified RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software offers a unified, cloud-driven platform for monitoring and managing your network, server, and desktop devices by providing an environment for performing common time-consuming jobs. These include health monitoring, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint configuration, backup and recovery, anti-virus response, secure remote access, built-in and custom scripts, resource inventory, endpoint status reporting, and troubleshooting support. When ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM spots a serious problem, it transmits an alarm to your designated IT management personnel and your assigned Progent technical consultant so that emerging issues can be fixed before they impact productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop monitoring services.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  Progent's ProSight WAN Watch is an infrastructure management service that makes it simple and affordable for small and mid-sized businesses to map out, track, reconfigure and debug their networking hardware such as switches, firewalls, and load balancers as well as servers, client computers and other networked devices. Using state-of-the-art Remote Monitoring and Management technology, WAN Watch ensures that network diagrams are always updated, copies and displays the configuration of virtually all devices connected to your network, tracks performance, and generates alerts when issues are detected. By automating time-consuming network management activities, WAN Watch can knock hours off ordinary tasks such as making network diagrams, expanding your network, finding devices that require important software patches, or resolving performance issues. Learn more about ProSight WAN Watch network infrastructure monitoring and management services.

• ProSight Reporting: In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding line of in-depth reporting plug-ins created to work with the leading 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 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 improves productivity, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For details, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has partnered with advanced backup/restore technology providers to create ProSight Data Protection Services, a selection of management offerings that provide backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS services automate and monitor your backup operations and allow transparent backup and rapid restoration of critical files, apps, images, plus virtual machines. ProSight DPS lets your business recover from data loss resulting from hardware breakdown, natural disasters, fire, cyber attacks such as ransomware, human error, malicious employees, or software bugs. Managed 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 purpose-built hardware, and ProSight DPS MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent consultant can assist you to identify which of these managed services are best suited for your network.

• 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 incorporates the technology of leading data security vendors to provide centralized control and world-class security for your email traffic. The hybrid architecture of Progent's Email Guard integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with a local security gateway appliance to offer complete protection against spam, viruses, Denial of Service Attacks, DHAs, and other email-borne malware. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer serves as a preliminary barricade and blocks most unwanted email from reaching your network firewall. This reduces your vulnerability to external attacks and saves system bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's on-premises security gateway appliance adds a deeper level of inspection for incoming email. For outbound email, the on-premises security gateway provides AV and anti-spam protection, DLP, and email encryption. The on-premises gateway can also assist Exchange Server to monitor and protect internal email traffic that stays within your corporate firewall. For more information, visit Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Protected Single Sign-on
  Progent's Duo MFA services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected application and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register multiple validation devices. For more information about ProSight Duo identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Service Center: Support Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Support Center managed services enable your IT team to offload Help Desk services to Progent or split activity for Help Desk services seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive pool of IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's Shared Help Desk Service offers a transparent supplement to your corporate network support organization. Client interaction with the Service Desk, delivery of technical assistance, problem escalation, trouble ticket generation and updates, performance measurement, and management of the support database are consistent whether incidents are resolved by your core support resources, by Progent, or a mix of the two. Read more about Progent's outsourced/shared Call Desk services.

• Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Identification and Remediation
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection managed service that utilizes next generation behavior machine learning technology to defend endpoints as well as servers and VMs against new malware assaults like ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely evade traditional signature-based anti-virus products. Progent Active Security Monitoring services safeguard local and cloud-based resources and provides a single platform to manage the entire malware attack progression including filtering, detection, mitigation, cleanup, and post-attack forensics. Key capabilities include one-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time system-wide immunization against new attacks. Learn more about Progent's ransomware defense and recovery 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 capture, maintain, retrieve and safeguard data about your network infrastructure, procedures, applications, and services. You can instantly locate passwords or serial numbers and be alerted about upcoming expirations of SSLs or warranties. By updating and managing your IT infrastructure documentation, you can save as much as half of time spent searching for critical information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a common repository for holding and sharing all documents required for managing your business network such as recommended procedures and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports advanced automation for collecting and relating IT data. Whether you're making enhancements, doing regular maintenance, or reacting to an emergency, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the knowledge you require when you need it. Read more about Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services
  Progent's managed services for software and firmware patch management offer businesses of all sizes a flexible and cost-effective solution for evaluating, validating, scheduling, applying, and tracking software and firmware updates to your ever-evolving information system. In addition to maximizing the security and functionality of your IT network, Progent's patch management services allow your IT team to concentrate on line-of-business initiatives and activities that derive maximum business value from your network. Learn more about Progent's software/firmware update management services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted VMs at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size organization can have its key servers and applications hosted in a secure Tier III data center on a high-performance virtual host configured and managed by Progent's network support professionals. Under Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service model, the client owns the data, the operating system platforms, and the applications. Since the system is virtualized, it can be moved immediately to an alternate hardware solution without requiring a lengthy and technically risky configuration procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, your business is not tied one hosting service. Find out more details about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  ProSight Active Security Monitoring is an endpoint protection service that utilizes SentinelOne's next generation behavior-based analysis technology to guard physical and virtual endpoint devices against new malware attacks such as ransomware and email phishing, which routinely evade traditional signature-matching anti-virus products. ProSight ASM safeguards on-premises and cloud-based resources and provides a unified platform to manage the complete threat lifecycle including protection, detection, containment, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Top capabilities include one-click rollback with Windows VSS and real-time system-wide immunization against newly discovered attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Read more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Physical and Virtual Endpoint Protection and Microsoft Exchange Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection services deliver economical multi-layer security for physical servers and virtual machines, workstations, mobile devices, and Exchange Server. ProSight ESP uses contextual security and modern behavior analysis for round-the-clock monitoring and reacting to security assaults from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers firewall protection, penetration alerts, endpoint management, and web filtering through leading-edge tools incorporated within one agent managed from a unified console. Progent's data protection and virtualization experts can assist your business to plan and configure a ProSight ESP environment that addresses your organization's specific needs and that helps you prove compliance with legal and industry information security standards. Progent will help you specify and implement security policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and respond to alerts that call for urgent action. Progent's consultants can also assist you to set up and test a backup and restore system like ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover quickly from a potentially disastrous security attack like ransomware. Read more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified endpoint protection and Exchange filtering.