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Computer Virus Detection and Repair Consultants

Ransomware : Your Crippling IT Disaster
Ransomware has become an escalating cyberplague that presents an existential threat for businesses unprepared for an attack. Different iterations of ransomware like the CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, SamSam and MongoLock cryptoworms have been around for many years and continue to cause havoc. More recent strains of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, LockBit or Egregor, plus frequent as yet unnamed viruses, not only encrypt online data files but also infiltrate many available system protection. Files synchronized to cloud environments can also be ransomed. In a poorly architected system, it can render automated restore operations impossible and effectively knocks the entire system back to square one.

Getting back programs and information following a crypto-ransomware event becomes a race against time as the targeted organization tries its best to stop lateral movement, clear the ransomware, and resume enterprise-critical operations. Due to the fact that ransomware needs time to replicate, attacks are usually launched during nights and weekends, when successful penetrations may take more time to notice. This compounds the difficulty of rapidly marshalling and orchestrating a capable response team.

Progent provides a variety of help services for securing organizations from crypto-ransomware attacks. Among these are team education to help identify and avoid phishing scams, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, along with setup and configuration of modern security solutions with AI capabilities from SentinelOne to detect and suppress zero-day threats quickly. Progent in addition provides the services of seasoned ransomware recovery consultants with the track record and perseverance to reconstruct a compromised network as soon as possible.

Progent's Crypto-Ransomware Restoration Help
Soon after a ransomware event, sending the ransom in cryptocurrency does not guarantee that distant criminals will respond with the needed keys to decrypt any of your data. Kaspersky Labs determined that 17% of crypto-ransomware victims never restored their information after having paid the ransom, resulting in more losses. The gamble is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are commonly a few hundred thousand dollars. For larger enterprises, the ransom can be in the millions. The alternative is to piece back together the vital elements of your IT environment. Absent the availability of complete information backups, this requires a wide range of IT skills, professional project management, and the ability to work 24x7 until the task is completed.

For twenty years, Progent has offered expert Information Technology services for companies throughout the United States and has achieved Microsoft's Partnership certification in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's pool of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes professionals who have earned advanced certifications in important technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity consultants have garnered internationally-recognized certifications including CISM, CISSP-ISSAP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (See Progent's certifications). Progent in addition has expertise in financial management and ERP application software. This breadth of experience provides Progent the skills to knowledgably determine necessary systems and organize the remaining pieces of your network system following a ransomware event and rebuild them into an operational system.

Progent's ransomware group utilizes top notch project management applications to coordinate the complicated restoration process. Progent understands the importance of acting rapidly and in unison with a client's management and IT resources to assign priority to tasks and to get key systems back on-line as fast as possible.

Business Case Study: A Successful Crypto-Ransomware Virus Response
A client sought out Progent after their network system was penetrated by Ryuk crypto-ransomware. Ryuk is generally considered to have been launched by North Korean government sponsored criminal gangs, possibly adopting algorithms leaked from the U.S. National Security Agency. Ryuk seeks specific companies with little tolerance for operational disruption and is among the most profitable instances of ransomware malware. Headline targets include Data Resolution, a California-based information warehousing and cloud computing business, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a regional manufacturing company based in Chicago and has about 500 staff members. The Ryuk penetration had shut down all company operations and manufacturing processes. Most of the client's information backups had been online at the start of the attack and were damaged. The client was taking steps for paying the ransom demand (in excess of $200K) and hoping for the best, but in the end called Progent.

Progent worked together with the customer to quickly assess and prioritize the critical elements that had to be addressed in order to resume company operations:

• Windows Active Directory
• Electronic Messaging
• Accounting/MRP

Within two days, Progent was able to rebuild Active Directory to its pre-penetration state. Progent then assisted with rebuilding and storage recovery on key servers. All Microsoft Exchange Server ties and configuration information were usable, which greatly helped the rebuild of Exchange. Progent was also able to collect intact OST data files (Outlook Off-Line Data Files) on various desktop computers and laptops to recover mail information. A not too old offline backup of the client's financials/MRP software made them able to restore these required services back available to users. Although major work needed to be completed to recover fully from the Ryuk damage, the most important services were recovered quickly:

During the following couple of weeks key milestones in the recovery project were achieved through tight collaboration between Progent team members and the customer:

• Internal web sites were returned to operation without losing any data.
• The MailStore Server exceeding four million historical emails was brought on-line and available for users.
• CRM/Orders/Invoicing/Accounts Payable (AP)/AR/Inventory Control modules were fully functional.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 security appliance was brought online.
• Nearly all of the user PCs were being used by staff.

Conclusion
A potential company-ending catastrophe was evaded through the efforts of top-tier experts, a broad range of subject matter expertise, and close teamwork. Although in post mortem the crypto-ransomware penetration described here could have been prevented with current cyber security technology solutions and security best practices, user and IT administrator training, and well designed security procedures for information protection and applying software patches, the fact remains that government-sponsored cyber criminals from China, Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are relentless and represent an ongoing threat. If you do fall victim to a crypto-ransomware attack, remember that Progent's team of professionals has proven experience in ransomware virus blocking, cleanup, and data disaster recovery.

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

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent can provide companies in Detroit a portfolio of online monitoring and security evaluation services to assist you to minimize your vulnerability to crypto-ransomware. These services incorporate modern artificial intelligence capability to detect zero-day variants of ransomware that are able to escape detection by legacy signature-based security solutions.

• ProSight Managed Service Packages: 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 leading-edge network resilience. Progent handles the necessary monitoring and maintenance for you, so your network expands smoothly without becoming an obstacle. For a low and predictable monthly subscription, Progent's full-service IT group can be your dependable technology safety net. Basic plans include remote monitoring and management, security, automatic monthly patching, and documentation. 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, pen testing, or WiFi management.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Remote Monitoring
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop remote monitoring managed service that uses state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management technology to help keep your IT system running efficiently by checking the state of critical assets that drive your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch detects an issue, an alert is sent immediately to your specified IT management staff and your Progent engineering consultant so that any potential problems can be resolved before they can impact your network. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop remote monitoring services.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Centralized RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software offers a unified, cloud-driven solution for managing your network, server, and desktop devices by providing tools for performing common time-consuming tasks. These include health checking, update management, automated repairs, endpoint setup, backup and restore, anti-virus defense, secure remote access, built-in and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint status reports, and troubleshooting assistance. When ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious issue, it sends an alarm to your specified IT staff and your assigned Progent technical consultant so that emerging issues can be fixed before they impact your network. Learn more details about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop remote monitoring services.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is a network infrastructure management service that makes it easy and affordable for smaller businesses to diagram, track, enhance and debug their connectivity appliances like switches, firewalls, and access points plus servers, printers, endpoints and other devices. Incorporating state-of-the-art RMM technology, ProSight WAN Watch ensures that network diagrams are always current, copies and manages the configuration of virtually all devices on your network, monitors performance, and generates alerts when problems are detected. By automating time-consuming management and troubleshooting activities, WAN Watch can cut hours off common chores such as making network diagrams, expanding your network, locating appliances that require critical software patches, or resolving performance bottlenecks. Find out more about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure management consulting.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Applications
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding suite of in-depth management reporting utilities designed to work with the top ticketing and network monitoring programs such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting incorporates Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to surface and contextualize critical issues such as inconsistent support follow-up or machines with out-of-date AVs. By exposing ticketing or network health concerns concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves network value, reduces management overhead, and saves money. For details, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with leading backup/restore technology companies to produce ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a portfolio of subscription-based management outsourcing plans that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS products manage and track your data backup operations and enable non-disruptive backup and fast restoration of important files, apps, system images, and Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines. ProSight DPS helps you avoid data loss resulting from hardware breakdown, natural calamities, fire, cyber attacks like ransomware, user mistakes, ill-intentioned insiders, or software bugs. Managed backup services available in the ProSight DPS product family include ProSight Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight DPS ECHO Backup based on Barracuda purpose-built hardware, and ProSight MSP360 Cloud and On-prem Backup. Your Progent service representative can help you to identify which of these managed backup services are most appropriate for your network.

• 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 incorporates the infrastructure of top information security vendors to deliver web-based management and comprehensive security for all your inbound and outbound email. The hybrid architecture of Progent's Email Guard integrates cloud-based filtering with an on-premises security gateway device to provide complete defense against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks, DHAs, and other email-borne malware. The cloud filter acts as a preliminary barricade and keeps the vast majority of unwanted email from reaching your network firewall. This reduces your exposure to external threats and saves system bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's onsite security gateway device provides a deeper level of analysis for inbound email. For outbound email, the on-premises gateway offers AV and anti-spam filtering, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The local security gateway can also help Exchange Server to monitor and safeguard internal email that stays within your security perimeter. For more information, see ProSight Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: ID Confirmation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Protected Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo MFA managed services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are on a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized as this added means of authentication including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for access security.

• Outsourced/Co-managed Call Desk: Call Center Managed Services
  Progent's Support Desk services enable your IT group to outsource Call Center services to Progent or divide responsibilities for support services seamlessly between your in-house network support team and Progent's nationwide pool of IT support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service offers a smooth supplement to your in-house IT support team. Client access to the Service Desk, provision of support, escalation, trouble ticket creation and updates, performance metrics, and maintenance of the support database are consistent regardless of whether incidents are taken care of by your in-house support staff, by Progent, or both. Read more about Progent's outsourced/co-managed Call Center services.

• Progent Active Protection Against Ransomware: Machine Learning-based Ransomware Identification and Remediation
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection solution that incorporates cutting edge behavior analysis tools to guard endpoint devices as well as servers and VMs against modern malware assaults such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely get by traditional signature-based AV tools. Progent Active Security Monitoring services protect local and cloud-based resources and provides a single platform to address the entire threat lifecycle including blocking, detection, containment, cleanup, and post-attack forensics. Key features include one-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic system-wide immunization against new attacks. Find out 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 makes it easy to capture, maintain, find and protect data related to your network infrastructure, processes, applications, and services. You can instantly find passwords or IP addresses and be warned about upcoming expirations of SSL certificates ,domains or warranties. By cleaning up and managing your IT documentation, you can eliminate up to half of time thrown away searching for vital information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a centralized repository for storing and sharing all documents related to managing your business network like standard operating procedures (SOPs) and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also offers advanced automation for gathering and associating IT information. Whether you're making enhancements, performing regular maintenance, or reacting to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the knowledge you require the instant you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for patch management offer businesses of all sizes a versatile and cost-effective solution for assessing, validating, scheduling, implementing, and tracking updates to your dynamic information system. In addition to maximizing the protection and reliability of your IT network, Progent's patch management services allow your in-house IT team to concentrate on line-of-business initiatives and tasks that derive maximum business value from your network. Read more about Progent's software/firmware update management services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted VMs at Progent's Tier III Data Center
  With ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size organization can have its critical servers and applications hosted in a protected Tier III data center on a high-performance virtual machine host configured and managed by Progent's network support experts. With the ProSight Virtual Hosting service model, the customer owns the data, the OS platforms, and the applications. Since the environment is virtualized, it can be ported immediately to a different hosting environment without a time-consuming and technically risky configuration process. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, your business is not locked into one hosting provider. 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 service that utilizes SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior-based machine learning technology to guard physical and virtual endpoint devices against modern malware assaults like ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely evade legacy signature-matching anti-virus products. ProSight Active Security Monitoring safeguards on-premises and cloud-based resources and provides a unified platform to address the complete threat lifecycle including protection, detection, containment, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include single-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic network-wide immunization against new attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP): Physical and Virtual Endpoint Security and Microsoft Exchange Email Filtering
  Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection managed services deliver ultra-affordable in-depth security for physical servers and VMs, workstations, smartphones, and Microsoft Exchange. ProSight ESP uses contextual security and advanced machine learning for round-the-clock monitoring and reacting to cyber threats from all vectors. ProSight ESP delivers two-way firewall protection, penetration alerts, endpoint control, and web filtering through cutting-edge tools incorporated within a single agent managed from a single console. Progent's data protection and virtualization experts can assist your business to plan and configure a ProSight ESP deployment that addresses your company's unique needs and that helps you demonstrate compliance with legal and industry information security regulations. Progent will help you specify and configure policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your network and react to alarms that call for immediate action. Progent's consultants can also assist your company to set up and verify a backup and restore system like ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can get back in business quickly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack like ransomware. Read more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified endpoint protection and Microsoft Exchange filtering.