San Diego UCSD 24x7x365 Critical Crypto
Malware Identification and Recovery Consultants

Crypto-Ransomware : Your Feared IT Nightmare
Ransomware has become a too-frequent cyberplague that poses an enterprise-level threat for organizations poorly prepared for an attack. Different iterations of ransomware like the CrySIS, WannaCry, Bad Rabbit, SamSam and MongoLock cryptoworms have been around for many years and still cause destruction. Newer versions of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Conti or Egregor, plus frequent as yet unnamed malware, not only do encryption of on-line data but also infect many configured system restores and backups. Files replicated to the cloud can also be encrypted. In a poorly architected environment, this can render any restoration useless and basically sets the network back to zero.

Recovering applications and information after a ransomware outage becomes a race against time as the targeted business tries its best to contain the damage, remove the ransomware, and restore business-critical operations. Due to the fact that ransomware needs time to replicate, penetrations are often sprung on weekends, when penetrations tend to take more time to uncover. This multiplies the difficulty of quickly marshalling and orchestrating a qualified response team.

Progent makes available a variety of solutions for protecting businesses from ransomware events. These include team training to help recognize and not fall victim to phishing scams, ProSight Active Security Monitoring for remote monitoring and management, plus deployment of the latest generation security solutions with artificial intelligence technology from SentinelOne to detect and disable new cyber attacks rapidly. Progent also provides the assistance of expert crypto-ransomware recovery engineers with the track record and perseverance to rebuild a compromised network as soon as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Restoration Support Services
After a ransomware event, paying the ransom in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that cyber hackers will provide the needed keys to decrypt any of your information. Kaspersky ascertained that seventeen percent of ransomware victims never recovered their information after having sent off the ransom, resulting in more losses. The gamble is also expensive. Ryuk ransoms are typically several hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom can reach millions of dollars. The alternative is to setup from scratch the essential components of your IT environment. Without access to complete information backups, this requires a wide range of skills, professional project management, and the ability to work 24x7 until the job is finished.

For two decades, Progent has provided certified expert IT services for companies throughout the U.S. and has achieved Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts includes engineers who have attained high-level certifications in key technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's security specialists have garnered internationally-recognized certifications including CISM, CISSP-ISSAP, ISACA CRISC, SANS GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Visit Progent's certifications). Progent in addition has expertise in financial systems and ERP applications. This breadth of experience provides Progent the capability to quickly understand necessary systems and integrate the remaining pieces of your network environment after a ransomware attack and assemble them into an operational network.

Progent's recovery team utilizes powerful project management systems to orchestrate the complicated restoration process. Progent understands the importance of working swiftly and together with a customer's management and IT resources to prioritize tasks and to put key services back on-line as fast as humanly possible.

Client Story: A Successful Crypto-Ransomware Penetration Restoration
A business sought out Progent after their network was penetrated by the Ryuk ransomware virus. Ryuk is generally considered to have been created by North Korean government sponsored criminal gangs, possibly adopting techniques leaked from the U.S. National Security Agency. Ryuk targets specific organizations with limited tolerance for operational disruption and is one of the most lucrative iterations of ransomware viruses. Major organizations 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 Chicago with about 500 staff members. The Ryuk intrusion had paralyzed all essential operations and manufacturing capabilities. The majority of the client's information backups had been on-line at the time of the intrusion and were encrypted. The client was actively seeking loans for paying the ransom demand (exceeding $200K) and wishfully thinking for good luck, but in the end reached out to Progent.

Progent worked hand in hand the client to quickly identify and assign priority to the critical elements that needed to be restored to make it possible to continue departmental operations:

• Windows Active Directory
• Electronic Mail
• Accounting and Manufacturing Software

Within 48 hours, Progent was able to recover Active Directory to its pre-penetration state. Progent then assisted with rebuilding and storage recovery on key applications. All Exchange Server schema and configuration information were intact, which accelerated the restore of Exchange. Progent was also able to assemble intact OST data files (Outlook Offline Data Files) on team PCs and laptops in order to recover email messages. A recent off-line backup of the businesses manufacturing software made it possible to recover these required programs back on-line. Although significant work still had to be done to recover completely from the Ryuk damage, essential services were restored quickly:

Over the next couple of weeks key milestones in the restoration process were achieved in tight cooperation between Progent consultants and the customer:

• Internal web applications were restored without losing any data.
• The MailStore Server exceeding 4 million archived emails was brought on-line and accessible to users.
• CRM/Orders/Invoices/AP/AR/Inventory modules were 100 percent operational.
• A new Palo Alto 850 firewall was deployed.
• Nearly all of the desktop computers were operational.

Conclusion
A likely company-ending catastrophe was evaded with dedicated professionals, a wide spectrum of knowledge, and close collaboration. Although in post mortem the crypto-ransomware attack detailed here should have been identified and stopped with current cyber security technology and recognized best practices, user training, and properly executed security procedures for data backup and applying software patches, the fact remains that state-sponsored hackers from Russia, China and elsewhere are relentless and are an ongoing threat. If you do fall victim to a ransomware virus, remember that Progent's team of professionals has substantial experience in ransomware virus defense, mitigation, and file recovery.

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

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent can provide businesses in San Diego UCSD a portfolio of remote monitoring and security assessment services to help you to minimize the threat from ransomware. These services utilize next-generation artificial intelligence capability to uncover zero-day strains of ransomware that are able to escape detection by legacy signature-based anti-virus solutions.

• ProSight Managed Service Packages: for Small to Mid-size Businesses
  Progent's ProSight Managed IT Service Plans make it practical for small and mid-size companies to utilize Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solutions to achieve leading-edge IT resilience. Progent takes care of the necessary monitoring and management for you, so your network expands smoothly without holding you back. For an affordable and predictable monthly price, Progent's experienced IT group can be your complete technology safety net. Entry-level packages include remote monitoring and management, cybersecurity, automatic monthly patching, and reporting. As your requirements grow, 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 Remote Monitoring and Management
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring managed service that incorporates advanced remote monitoring and management technology to keep your IT system operating efficiently by tracking the health of critical assets that power your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alert is sent automatically to your specified IT staff and your Progent consultant so that any looming problems can be addressed before they can disrupt productivity. Find out more details about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop remote 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-driven platform for managing your network, server, and desktop devices by providing an environment for performing common tedious jobs. These include health checking, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint deployment, backup and recovery, anti-virus response, remote access, built-in and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint status reporting, and troubleshooting assistance. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious incident, it sends an alert to your designated IT personnel and your assigned Progent consultant so that potential problems can be fixed before they interfere with productivity. Find out more details 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 monitoring and management service that makes it simple and inexpensive for smaller businesses to diagram, monitor, reconfigure and troubleshoot their networking hardware such as routers and switches, firewalls, and access points as well as servers, printers, client computers and other devices. Incorporating state-of-the-art Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology, ProSight WAN Watch makes sure that infrastructure topology maps are always updated, copies and manages the configuration information of virtually all devices connected to your network, tracks performance, and sends notices when issues are detected. By automating tedious management activities, WAN Watch can knock hours off ordinary chores such as network mapping, reconfiguring your network, finding appliances that need critical software patches, or resolving performance bottlenecks. Learn more about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure management services.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding suite of in-depth management reporting utilities designed to integrate with the industry's top ticketing and remote network monitoring programs such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting incorporates Microsoft Graph and features color coding to surface and contextualize critical issues like spotty support follow-through or machines with out-of-date AVs. By identifying ticketing or network health concerns clearly and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves productivity, lowers management overhead, and saves money. For more information, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Managed Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with advanced backup/restore software providers to produce ProSight Data Protection Services, a family of management offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS products automate and track your data backup operations and enable transparent backup and rapid recovery of vital files/folders, apps, images, plus VMs. ProSight DPS helps your business avoid data loss caused by equipment failures, natural disasters, fire, malware such as ransomware, human error, malicious employees, or application bugs. Managed backup services available in the ProSight Data Protection Services product line include ProSight Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight ECHO Backup using Barracuda dedicated hardware, and ProSight MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent expert 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 and virus filtering service that incorporates the technology of leading data security vendors to deliver centralized control and world-class security for all your inbound and outbound email. The powerful architecture of Progent's Email Guard managed service integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with an on-premises gateway device to provide advanced defense against spam, viruses, Denial of Service Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks, and other email-based threats. Email Guard's cloud filter acts as a first line of defense and blocks the vast majority of threats from reaching your network firewall. This reduces your vulnerability to external threats and saves network bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's on-premises security gateway device provides a deeper layer of inspection for incoming email. For outgoing email, the onsite security gateway offers anti-virus and anti-spam filtering, DLP, and email encryption. The local gateway can also assist Exchange Server to track and protect internal email that originates and ends inside your corporate firewall. For more details, see Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Remediation, and Secure Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo authentication managed services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity verification with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you sign into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used as this added means of ID validation including a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate several validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for access security.

• Outsourced/Co-managed Service Center: Call Center Managed Services
  Progent's Call Center services allow your IT team to outsource Help Desk services to Progent or divide activity for Service Desk support transparently between your in-house network support team and Progent's nationwide roster of certified IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's Co-managed Service Desk provides a transparent supplement to your in-house IT support organization. End user access to the Service Desk, delivery of technical assistance, issue escalation, ticket creation and tracking, efficiency metrics, and management of the service database are consistent regardless of whether incidents are taken care of by your core IT support group, by Progent, or both. Learn more about Progent's outsourced/shared Call Desk services.

• Progent Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Detection and Remediation
  Progent's Active Defense Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection managed service that incorporates cutting edge behavior analysis tools to guard endpoint devices and physical and virtual servers against modern malware attacks like ransomware and email phishing, which easily evade legacy signature-based anti-virus tools. Progent Active Security Monitoring services safeguard on-premises and cloud resources and provides a unified platform to address the entire malware attack lifecycle including filtering, infiltration detection, mitigation, cleanup, and post-attack forensics. Key capabilities include one-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and real-time network-wide immunization against new threats. Read 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 allows you to capture, maintain, retrieve and safeguard data related to your network infrastructure, processes, business apps, and services. You can quickly locate passwords or serial numbers and be alerted automatically about upcoming expirations of SSLs or domains. By updating and managing your network documentation, you can eliminate up to half of time thrown away looking for vital information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a common location for holding and sharing all documents related to managing your network infrastructure like recommended procedures and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports a high level of automation for collecting and associating IT data. Whether you're planning improvements, doing regular maintenance, or reacting to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the data you require as soon as you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Progent's Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services
  Progent's support services for patch management provide organizations of all sizes a flexible and cost-effective alternative for evaluating, testing, scheduling, applying, and documenting software and firmware updates to your ever-evolving information system. In addition to maximizing the security and reliability of your computer environment, Progent's patch management services free up time for your in-house IT staff to focus on line-of-business projects and activities that deliver maximum business value from your network. Read more about Progent's software/firmware update management support 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 business can have its key servers and apps hosted in a protected fault tolerant data center on a fast virtual host configured and managed by Progent's IT support professionals. Under the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the customer retains ownership of the data, the operating system software, and the apps. Because the environment is virtualized, it can be moved easily to an alternate hosting environment without requiring a lengthy and technically risky reinstallation process. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, you are not locked into one hosting service. Find out 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 incorporates SentinelOne's next generation behavior machine learning tools to defend physical and virtual endpoint devices against new malware attacks like ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely evade traditional signature-matching anti-virus products. ProSight ASM safeguards local and cloud resources and provides a unified platform to manage the entire malware attack lifecycle including protection, identification, containment, cleanup, and post-attack forensics. Top features include single-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and real-time network-wide immunization against newly discovered attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Read more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware defense.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP): Endpoint Protection and Microsoft Exchange Email Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection services offer affordable in-depth protection for physical and virtual servers, desktops, mobile devices, and Microsoft Exchange. ProSight ESP utilizes contextual security and advanced heuristics for continuously monitoring and reacting to cyber assaults from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP provides firewall protection, penetration alarms, device management, and web filtering through leading-edge technologies packaged within one agent accessible from a single control. Progent's data protection and virtualization experts can assist you to design and configure a ProSight ESP environment that addresses your company's unique requirements and that helps you achieve and demonstrate compliance with legal and industry information security regulations. Progent will assist you specify and configure policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and respond to alarms that require urgent action. Progent's consultants can also help you to set up and verify a backup and disaster recovery system such as ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover quickly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack such as ransomware. Read more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified endpoint protection and Microsoft Exchange filtering.