24-Hour Monterey Urgent Ransomware
Virus Assessment and Repair Experts

Ransomware : Your Crippling IT Catastrophe
Crypto-Ransomware has become an escalating cyber pandemic that represents an existential danger for organizations vulnerable to an attack. Different versions of crypto-ransomware like the CrySIS, Fusob, Bad Rabbit, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been around for a long time and continue to inflict harm. Recent versions of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, LockBit or Nephilim, as well as daily unnamed viruses, not only do encryption of online data files but also infiltrate many accessible system restores and backups. Data synched to cloud environments can also be encrypted. In a poorly designed data protection solution, this can make any recovery impossible and effectively knocks the entire system back to zero.

Getting back online services and data after a ransomware attack becomes a sprint against time as the targeted business struggles to contain the damage, remove the ransomware, and resume mission-critical operations. Due to the fact that crypto-ransomware requires time to move laterally, attacks are frequently sprung on weekends and holidays, when successful penetrations in many cases take more time to uncover. This compounds the difficulty of promptly mobilizing and coordinating an experienced mitigation team.

Progent has a variety of services for securing businesses from ransomware penetrations. These include staff training to help recognize and avoid phishing exploits, ProSight Active Security Monitoring for remote monitoring and management, along with installation of the latest generation security solutions with machine learning technology from SentinelOne to detect and extinguish zero-day cyber attacks automatically. Progent also offers the assistance of expert ransomware recovery consultants with the track record and commitment to reconstruct a breached system as rapidly as possible.

Progent's Crypto-Ransomware Restoration Services
Subsequent to a crypto-ransomware event, sending the ransom in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that merciless criminals will provide the keys to decipher any of your information. Kaspersky ascertained that seventeen percent of ransomware victims never recovered their data even after having sent off the ransom, resulting in increased losses. The risk is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are commonly several hundred thousand dollars. For larger organizations, the ransom can be in the millions of dollars. The fallback is to setup from scratch the essential parts of your IT environment. Without access to full information backups, this calls for a wide complement of IT skills, top notch team management, and the ability to work continuously until the recovery project is finished.

For twenty years, Progent has offered professional IT services for businesses throughout the US and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts includes consultants who have attained advanced certifications in key technologies such as Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity experts have earned internationally-renowned certifications including CISA, CISSP, CRISC, SANS GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Visit Progent's certifications). Progent also has experience with financial management and ERP applications. This breadth of experience provides Progent the ability to quickly determine important systems and organize the remaining pieces of your computer network environment after a crypto-ransomware penetration and assemble them into an operational network.

Progent's security team utilizes top notch project management applications to coordinate the sophisticated restoration process. Progent appreciates the urgency of working quickly and together with a customer's management and IT staff to prioritize tasks and to put key systems back on line as fast as possible.

Customer Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Incident Response
A client hired Progent after their company was brought down by the Ryuk ransomware. Ryuk is believed to have been launched by Northern Korean state sponsored cybercriminals, possibly using strategies exposed from the United States National Security Agency. Ryuk seeks specific organizations with little tolerance for disruption and is one of the most lucrative incarnations of ransomware. High publicized victims include Data Resolution, a California-based data warehousing and cloud computing business, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a small manufacturing company located in the Chicago metro area and has around 500 employees. The Ryuk penetration had shut down all business operations and manufacturing processes. The majority of the client's data protection had been directly accessible at the start of the intrusion and were eventually encrypted. The client was pursuing financing for paying the ransom demand (in excess of $200,000) and wishfully thinking for good luck, but in the end utilized Progent.

Progent worked hand in hand the customer to rapidly assess and assign priority to the essential systems that needed to be addressed in order to restart departmental functions:

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

In less than 2 days, Progent was able to restore Active Directory to its pre-attack state. Progent then helped perform rebuilding and storage recovery of essential servers. All Microsoft Exchange Server data and attributes were intact, which greatly helped the restore of Exchange. Progent was able to assemble intact OST files (Outlook Off-Line Folder Files) on various workstations and laptops to recover mail messages. A recent off-line backup of the customer's accounting/MRP software made it possible to restore these essential applications back online for users. Although significant work still had to be done to recover totally from the Ryuk damage, essential systems were recovered quickly:

Over the next couple of weeks critical milestones in the restoration process were made in tight cooperation between Progent team members and the client:

• Self-hosted web sites were brought back up without losing any data.
• The MailStore Exchange Server exceeding 4 million archived emails was brought on-line and available for users.
• CRM/Orders/Invoices/Accounts Payable/AR/Inventory Control functions were 100% restored.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 security appliance was installed and configured.
• Nearly all of the user desktops and notebooks were functioning as before the incident.

Conclusion
A possible business extinction disaster was evaded by top-tier experts, a broad array of technical expertise, and close teamwork. Although in analyzing the event afterwards the crypto-ransomware incident described here could have been blocked with up-to-date cyber security systems and recognized best practices, user education, and well thought out security procedures for information protection and keeping systems up to date with security patches, the fact remains that government-sponsored criminal cyber gangs from China, Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are tireless and represent an ongoing threat. If you do fall victim to a ransomware incident, feel confident that Progent's roster of professionals has extensive experience in ransomware virus defense, remediation, and information systems restoration.

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

Additional Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent offers businesses in Monterey a portfolio of remote monitoring and security assessment services designed to help you to reduce your vulnerability to ransomware. These services incorporate next-generation machine learning capability to uncover new variants of ransomware that can get past traditional signature-based security products.

• ProSight Managed Service Packages: for Small to Mid-size Businesses
  Progent's ProSight Managed IT Service Packages make it practical for small and mid-size companies to utilize Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology to achieve leading-edge network resilience. Progent handles the daily monitoring and maintenance for you, so your system scales readily without becoming an obstacle. For a low and predictable monthly subscription, Progent's experienced IT team can be your dependable technology safety net. Entry-level packages include remote monitoring and management (RMM), security, automatic monthly patching, and documentation. As your needs expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to advanced solutions 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 and Management
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring managed service that incorporates state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management techniques to keep your network operating efficiently by tracking the state of vital computers that power your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers a problem, an alarm is transmitted immediately to your specified IT management staff and your Progent engineering consultant so that any potential problems can be addressed before they can impact 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 unified, cloud-driven platform for monitoring and managing your client-server infrastructure by providing an environment for streamlining common time-consuming jobs. These include health checking, update management, automated remediation, endpoint deployment, backup and recovery, A/V defense, remote access, standard and custom scripts, asset inventory, endpoint profile reporting, and troubleshooting help. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious problem, it transmits an alarm to your designated IT staff and your Progent consultant so that potential problems can be fixed before they impact your network. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop monitoring consulting.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Network Infrastructure Remote Monitoring and Management
  Progent's ProSight WAN Watch is an infrastructure management service that makes it simple and inexpensive for smaller organizations to diagram, monitor, reconfigure and troubleshoot their networking appliances like routers, firewalls, and wireless controllers as well as servers, printers, endpoints and other networked devices. Incorporating cutting-edge RMM technology, WAN Watch makes sure that infrastructure topology maps are always updated, copies and manages the configuration of virtually all devices connected to your network, monitors performance, and sends notices when problems are detected. By automating time-consuming network management processes, ProSight WAN Watch can cut hours off common tasks like network mapping, reconfiguring your network, finding appliances that require important software patches, or resolving performance problems. Learn more about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure management consulting.

• ProSight Reporting: In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is a growing family of real-time and in-depth management reporting utilities created to work with the top ticketing and network monitoring programs including ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and features color coding to surface and contextualize critical issues like spotty support follow-up or machines with missing patches. By identifying ticketing or network health concerns concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting enhances productivity, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For more information, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Managed Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with leading backup technology providers to produce ProSight Data Protection Services, a family of subscription-based management outsourcing plans that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS products automate and monitor your backup operations and allow non-disruptive backup and rapid restoration of vital files, applications, system images, and VMs. ProSight DPS lets you avoid data loss caused by hardware failures, natural disasters, fire, cyber attacks like ransomware, user mistakes, ill-intentioned employees, or application bugs. Managed 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 DPS ECHO Backup based on Barracuda dedicated hardware, and ProSight DPS MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent consultant can assist you to identify which of these fully managed 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 filtering and email encryption service that incorporates the infrastructure of top data security companies to deliver web-based management and comprehensive protection for your email traffic. The hybrid architecture of Progent's Email Guard managed service integrates cloud-based filtering with an on-premises gateway device to offer advanced defense against spam, viruses, Dos Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks, and other email-borne threats. The cloud filter serves as a first line of defense and keeps most unwanted email from making it to your security perimeter. This reduces your exposure to external threats 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 onsite gateway provides anti-virus and anti-spam protection, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The on-premises gateway can also help Microsoft Exchange Server to track and protect internal email that originates and ends inside your security perimeter. For more details, visit Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: ID Confirmation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Protected Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo authentication service plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity verification on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you log into a protected application and give your password you are asked to confirm who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized as this second means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several validation devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Help Center: Support Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Support Desk managed services permit your IT team to offload Support Desk services to Progent or divide responsibilities for Help Desk services transparently between your internal support resources and Progent's extensive roster of IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service offers a transparent supplement to your internal network support resources. End user interaction with the Help Desk, delivery of technical assistance, escalation, trouble ticket creation and tracking, performance measurement, and management of the service database are cohesive regardless of whether issues are taken care of by your core IT support group, by Progent's team, or both. Learn more about Progent's outsourced/shared Help Desk services.

• Progent Active Protection Against Ransomware: Machine Learning-based Ransomware Detection and Cleanup
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection solution that incorporates cutting edge behavior analysis tools to guard endpoint devices and servers and VMs against modern malware attacks like ransomware and email phishing, which routinely evade traditional signature-matching anti-virus products. Progent Active Security Monitoring services safeguard local and cloud resources and provides a unified platform to manage the entire malware attack progression including protection, detection, mitigation, cleanup, and forensics. Top capabilities include single-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and real-time system-wide immunization against newly discovered threats. Learn more about Progent's ransomware protection and cleanup 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 information related to your network infrastructure, procedures, business apps, and services. You can instantly locate passwords or serial numbers and be warned automatically about impending expirations of SSL certificates ,domains or warranties. By cleaning up and organizing your IT documentation, you can save up to 50% of time wasted looking for critical information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a centralized location for holding and sharing all documents required for managing your network infrastructure such as standard operating procedures and self-service instructions. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports a high level of automation for gathering and associating IT data. Whether you're making enhancements, doing maintenance, or reacting to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the information you need as soon as you need it. Learn more about Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services
  Progent's managed services for software and firmware patch management provide businesses of all sizes a versatile and cost-effective solution for evaluating, testing, scheduling, implementing, and tracking updates to your ever-evolving IT network. In addition to optimizing the security and functionality of your computer environment, Progent's software/firmware update management services free up time for your IT staff to concentrate on line-of-business projects and tasks that derive maximum business value from your information network. Find out more about Progent's patch management services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size organization can have its critical servers and apps hosted in a secure Tier III data center on a fast virtual host set up and maintained by Progent's IT support professionals. Under Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the client owns the data, the OS software, and the applications. Since the system is virtualized, it can be moved immediately to an alternate hardware environment without a lengthy and technically risky reinstallation process. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, your business is not locked into one hosting provider. Find out more details about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection solution that incorporates SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior-based machine learning tools to defend physical and virtual endpoints against modern malware assaults such as ransomware and email phishing, which easily escape traditional signature-matching anti-virus products. ProSight ASM safeguards on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a single platform to automate the complete threat lifecycle including filtering, detection, mitigation, cleanup, and forensics. Top features include single-click rollback using Windows VSS and real-time system-wide immunization against new attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Endpoint Security and Exchange Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection services offer economical in-depth protection for physical servers and VMs, desktops, mobile devices, and Microsoft Exchange. ProSight ESP uses contextual security and advanced machine learning for continuously monitoring and reacting to cyber threats from all vectors. ProSight ESP delivers firewall protection, intrusion alarms, endpoint management, and web filtering through cutting-edge tools incorporated within a single agent managed from a unified control. Progent's data protection and virtualization consultants can help you to plan and configure a ProSight ESP deployment that addresses your organization's specific requirements and that allows you prove compliance with government and industry data security regulations. Progent will help you specify and implement security policies that ProSight ESP will enforce, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and react to alarms that require immediate action. Progent's consultants can also help you to install and test a backup and restore solution such as 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 unified endpoint protection and Microsoft Exchange filtering.