24x7 Memphis Urgent Ransomware
Computer Virus Damage Assessment and Repair Consulting

Ransomware : Your Feared Information Technology Nightmare
Ransomware has become a modern cyber pandemic that represents an existential danger for organizations poorly prepared for an attack. Multiple generations of ransomware like the Dharma, Fusob, Bad Rabbit, SamSam and MongoLock cryptoworms have been out in the wild for years and still cause havoc. More recent strains of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, LockBit or Egregor, as well as frequent unnamed viruses, not only do encryption of online data but also infiltrate most available system backups. Data synched to cloud environments can also be held hostage. In a vulnerable system, this can make automated restoration useless and basically knocks the entire system back to square one.

Getting back on-line applications and data following a ransomware attack becomes a race against the clock as the targeted business fights to stop the spread, clear the ransomware, and restore enterprise-critical operations. Due to the fact that ransomware requires time to spread, penetrations are often sprung at night, when penetrations typically take longer to notice. This multiplies the difficulty of rapidly mobilizing and orchestrating a capable mitigation team.

Progent has a range of solutions for protecting businesses from crypto-ransomware attacks. These include team member training to help identify and not fall victim to phishing scams, ProSight Active Security Monitoring for remote monitoring and management, in addition to setup and configuration of the latest generation security solutions with machine learning technology from SentinelOne to identify and quarantine day-zero threats automatically. Progent also provides the assistance of experienced ransomware recovery engineers with the track record and perseverance to rebuild a breached system as rapidly as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Restoration Support Services
After a ransomware invasion, even paying the ransom in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that distant criminals will respond with the keys to decipher any of your data. Kaspersky Labs estimated that 17% of crypto-ransomware victims never restored their information after having paid the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The gamble is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are typically several hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom demand can be in the millions. The alternative is to setup from scratch the essential elements of your IT environment. Without the availability of full data backups, this requires a wide range of skills, well-coordinated project management, and the willingness to work continuously until the task is complete.

For twenty years, Progent has provided professional Information Technology services for companies throughout the US and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's pool of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes consultants who have been awarded high-level certifications in key technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity engineers have earned internationally-recognized certifications including CISM, CISSP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Refer to Progent's certifications). Progent in addition has expertise with financial systems and ERP software solutions. This breadth of expertise affords Progent the skills to knowledgably understand important systems and consolidate the remaining parts of your network environment following a ransomware event and rebuild them into a functioning network.

Progent's security team has best of breed project management applications to orchestrate the sophisticated recovery process. Progent appreciates the urgency of acting rapidly and together with a customer's management and IT resources to assign priority to tasks and to put the most important services back on line as fast as humanly possible.

Customer Story: A Successful Ransomware Virus Response
A small business engaged Progent after their organization was attacked by Ryuk ransomware virus. Ryuk is thought to have been created by Northern Korean state sponsored criminal gangs, suspected of adopting techniques exposed from America's National Security Agency. Ryuk seeks specific businesses with limited ability to sustain disruption and is among the most lucrative examples of ransomware. High publicized organizations include Data Resolution, a California-based data warehousing and cloud computing firm, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a small manufacturing business based in Chicago and has about 500 workers. The Ryuk event had disabled all company operations and manufacturing processes. Most of the client's data protection had been online at the beginning of the intrusion and were damaged. The client considered paying the ransom demand (in excess of $200K) and wishfully thinking for good luck, but in the end brought in Progent.

Progent worked with the client to quickly assess and prioritize the most important areas that needed to be recovered to make it possible to restart company operations:

• Active Directory (AD)
• E-Mail
• MRP System

In less than 48 hours, Progent was able to rebuild Windows Active Directory to its pre-virus state. Progent then completed rebuilding and hard drive recovery on critical applications. All Microsoft Exchange Server schema and configuration information were intact, which facilitated the restore of Exchange. Progent was also able to assemble intact OST data files (Outlook Email Off-Line Folder Files) on staff PCs and laptops in order to recover email messages. A not too old offline backup of the client's accounting/MRP systems made it possible to recover these required services back online. Although a large amount of work still had to be done to recover totally from the Ryuk event, the most important systems were returned to operations quickly:

Over the next couple of weeks important milestones in the restoration project were achieved through tight collaboration between Progent team members and the customer:

• Self-hosted web applications were returned to operation with no loss of data.
• The MailStore Exchange Server with over 4 million archived messages was brought online and accessible to users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoicing/Accounts Payable (AP)/Accounts Receivables (AR)/Inventory Control modules were 100% restored.
• A new Palo Alto 850 security appliance was set up.
• Most of the desktops and laptops were operational.

Conclusion
A possible business-killing disaster was avoided by hard-working experts, a wide spectrum of knowledge, and tight teamwork. Although in retrospect the ransomware penetration detailed here would have been prevented with advanced security systems and best practices, user and IT administrator training, and well thought out security procedures for information protection and keeping systems up to date with security patches, the reality is that state-sponsored hackers from China, North Korea and elsewhere are tireless and represent an ongoing threat. If you do get hit by a ransomware incident, feel confident that Progent's team of professionals has extensive experience in crypto-ransomware virus defense, mitigation, and file recovery.

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

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent offers companies in Memphis a portfolio of online monitoring and security assessment services designed to assist you to reduce your vulnerability to crypto-ransomware. These services include next-generation machine learning technology to uncover new variants of crypto-ransomware that can evade traditional signature-based anti-virus products.

• ProSight Managed Service Plans: for Small to Mid-size Businesses
  Progent's ProSight Managed IT Service Packages make it practical for small and mid-size businesses to deploy Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solutions to achieve advanced IT resilience. Progent handles the daily monitoring and management for you, so your network expands readily without becoming an obstacle. For a low and predictable monthly price, Progent's full-service IT team can be your dependable technology safety net. Basic packages include remote monitoring and management, cybersecurity, monthly patching, and reporting. As your needs expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to best-of-breed solutions like as SaaS M365/Google Workspace backup and restore, Multi-Factor Authentication, penetration testing, or WiFi management.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Remote Monitoring
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring service that uses state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management (RMM) technology to help keep your IT system operating at peak levels by tracking the state of critical computers that drive your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers a problem, an alarm is transmitted automatically to your designated IT management personnel and your assigned Progent consultant so that all potential problems can be addressed before they can disrupt productivity. Learn more details about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring consulting.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Centralized RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Desktops
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software offers a centralized, cloud-driven solution for monitoring and managing your client-server infrastructure by offering tools for streamlining common tedious jobs. These include health checking, update management, automated repairs, endpoint configuration, backup and restore, anti-virus defense, secure remote access, standard and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint status reporting, and debugging assistance. When ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious issue, it transmits an alarm to your designated IT management staff and your assigned Progent technical consultant so that potential issues can be taken care of before they interfere with productivity. Learn more details about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop monitoring services.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Network Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is a network infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it simple and inexpensive for smaller organizations to map, monitor, enhance and debug their connectivity hardware like routers and switches, firewalls, and load balancers as well as servers, printers, client computers and other devices. Using state-of-the-art Remote Monitoring and Management technology, ProSight WAN Watch ensures that infrastructure topology diagrams are always updated, copies and manages the configuration information of virtually all devices on your network, tracks performance, and generates alerts when issues are discovered. By automating time-consuming management and troubleshooting activities, WAN Watch can knock hours off common chores such as network mapping, reconfiguring your network, locating appliances that need important updates, or resolving performance issues. Learn more details about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure management services.

• ProSight Reporting: In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding suite of real-time reporting utilities created to work with the leading ticketing and network monitoring applications including ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to highlight and contextualize key issues such as inconsistent support follow-up or endpoints with out-of-date AVs. By exposing ticketing or network health problems clearly and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves network value, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For more information, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with leading backup technology companies to produce ProSight Data Protection Services, a selection of subscription-based management offerings that provide backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS services automate and monitor your data backup operations and allow transparent backup and rapid restoration of vital files/folders, apps, system images, and VMs. ProSight DPS helps your business avoid data loss resulting from hardware failures, natural calamities, fire, cyber attacks like ransomware, user mistakes, ill-intentioned insiders, or software glitches. Managed backup services available in the ProSight Data Protection Services product line include ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight ECHO Backup based on Barracuda purpose-built hardware, and ProSight MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent consultant can assist you to determine which of these managed backup 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 and virus filtering service that incorporates the technology of leading information security companies to deliver centralized management and world-class protection for all your inbound and outbound email. The hybrid architecture of Email Guard managed service integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with an on-premises gateway appliance to provide advanced defense against spam, viruses, Dos Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks (DHAs), and other email-based malware. Email Guard's cloud filter serves as a first line of defense and keeps the vast majority of unwanted email from making it to your network firewall. This reduces your vulnerability to inbound threats and saves system bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's on-premises gateway device adds a further level of inspection for inbound email. For outbound email, the local security gateway provides AV and anti-spam protection, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The local gateway can also help Exchange Server to track and protect internal email that originates and ends inside your security perimeter. For more details, visit Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Remediation, and Protected Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo authentication managed services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity verification on iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a device that only you have and that uses a separate network channel. A wide range 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 phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Call Center: Help Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Help Desk managed services enable your information technology staff to offload Help Desk services to Progent or split responsibilities for Help Desk services transparently between your internal network support group and Progent's extensive roster of IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Service Desk offers a smooth extension of your in-house IT support staff. End user interaction with the Service Desk, delivery of support services, issue escalation, ticket creation and tracking, performance measurement, and management of the service database are cohesive regardless of whether issues are resolved by your corporate IT support resources, by Progent's team, or both. Read more about Progent's outsourced/shared Call Desk services.

• Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Detection and Cleanup
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection solution that utilizes cutting edge behavior-based analysis tools to guard endpoint devices as well as servers and VMs against modern malware assaults such as ransomware and email phishing, which easily escape legacy signature-based anti-virus products. Progent ASM services safeguard on-premises and cloud-based resources and provides a single platform to automate the complete threat lifecycle including protection, infiltration detection, containment, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Top features include one-click rollback using Windows VSS and real-time system-wide immunization against new attacks. Learn more about Progent's ransomware protection and recovery services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  ProSight IT Asset Management service is an IT infrastructure documentation management service that makes it easy to capture, maintain, retrieve and safeguard data related to your network infrastructure, procedures, applications, and services. You can quickly find passwords or IP addresses and be alerted automatically about impending expirations of SSL certificates ,domains or warranties. By updating and organizing your IT infrastructure documentation, you can eliminate as much as half of time wasted trying to find vital information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a common repository for storing and collaborating on all documents related to managing your network infrastructure such as standard operating procedures and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also offers a high level of automation for collecting and associating IT data. Whether you're making enhancements, performing maintenance, or responding to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management gets you the knowledge you need as soon as you need it. Learn more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for software and firmware patch management provide organizations of any size a versatile and cost-effective solution for evaluating, testing, scheduling, implementing, and documenting updates to your dynamic information system. Besides optimizing the protection and reliability of your computer network, Progent's software/firmware update management services permit your IT team to concentrate on more strategic projects and activities that deliver maximum business value from your network. Find out more about Progent's software/firmware update management services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted VMs at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size organization can have its key servers and apps hosted in a protected Tier III data center on a fast virtual machine host set up and maintained by Progent's IT support experts. Under the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the customer owns the data, the OS software, and the apps. Because the environment is virtualized, it can be ported easily to a different hardware solution without requiring a lengthy and technically risky reinstallation 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 next generation behavior analysis tools to defend physical and virtual endpoint devices against modern malware attacks such as ransomware and email phishing, which routinely get by traditional signature-based anti-virus tools. ProSight Active Security Monitoring protects on-premises and cloud-based resources and provides a unified platform to automate the entire threat lifecycle including blocking, infiltration detection, mitigation, remediation, and forensics. Top capabilities include single-click rollback with Windows VSS and real-time network-wide immunization against newly discovered threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP): Physical and Virtual Endpoint Security and Exchange Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) managed services offer economical multi-layer security for physical servers and virtual machines, desktops, smartphones, and Exchange email. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for round-the-clock monitoring and responding to security threats from all vectors. ProSight ESP delivers two-way firewall protection, intrusion alerts, endpoint management, and web filtering through leading-edge technologies packaged within a single agent accessible from a single console. Progent's security and virtualization experts can help you to design and implement a ProSight ESP environment that addresses your organization's unique requirements and that allows you prove compliance with government and industry information protection regulations. Progent will help you define and configure policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your network and respond to alarms that require immediate action. Progent can also help you to install and test a backup and restore system such as ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover quickly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack like ransomware. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified endpoint protection and Microsoft Exchange filtering.