Reston Ransomware Filtering and Remediation Solutions

Ransomware has been weaponized by cybercriminals and rogue governments, posing a potentially existential threat to companies that are victimized. Modern strains of ransomware target all vulnerable resources, including online backup, making even selective restoration a challenging and costly process. New versions of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, DopplePaymer, Snatch and Nephilim have made the headlines, displacing WannaCry, Spora, and Petya in prominence, sophistication, and destructive impact.

Most ransomware penetrations are the result of innocent-seeming emails that include malicious hyperlinks or attachments, and many are so-called "zero-day" variants that elude detection by legacy signature-matching antivirus filters. While user education and frontline identification are important to defend against ransomware, best practices demand that you assume some attacks will inevitably succeed and that you put in place a solid backup solution that allows you to recover quickly with little if any losses.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Assessment is an ultra-affordable service centered around a remote interview with a Progent security consultant skilled in ransomware defense and recovery. In the course of this interview Progent will collaborate with your Reston network management staff to collect pertinent information concerning your cybersecurity profile and backup environment. Progent will use this data to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Report documenting how to apply leading practices for implementing and administering your security and backup systems to block or clean up after a ransomware assault.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report highlights vital areas associated with crypto-ransomware defense and restoration recovery. The review addresses:

Security

• Proper use of administration accounts
• Assigning NTFS and SMB (Server Message Block) authorizations
• Proper firewall configuration
• Safe RDP connections
• Recommend AntiVirus tools selection and configuration

• Split permission model for backup protection
• Protecting required servers such as AD
• Offsite backups with cloud backup to Microsoft Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts or deletes files so they are unusable or are made publicly available. Ransomware often locks the target's computer. To avoid the carnage, the victim is asked to pay a specified ransom, usually via a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a short period of time. It is never certain that delivering the ransom will recover the lost data or avoid its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or erased across a network based on the target's write permissions, and you cannot break the military-grade encryption algorithms used on the compromised files. A common ransomware attack vector is spoofed email, in which the target is lured into interacting with by means of a social engineering exploit known as spear phishing. This causes the email message to appear to come from a trusted sender. Another popular attack vector is a poorly protected Remote Desktop Protocol port.

The ransomware variant CryptoLocker opened the new age of crypto-ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses attributed to by the many strains of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars per year, more than doubling every two years. Famous attacks are Locky, and Petya. Recent headline variants like Ryuk, Maze and TeslaCrypt are more elaborate and have caused more havoc than earlier strains. Even if your backup/recovery processes enable you to recover your encrypted data, you can still be hurt by so-called exfiltration, where stolen documents are exposed to the public. Because additional versions of ransomware crop up daily, there is no certainty that conventional signature-based anti-virus tools will detect the latest malware. If an attack does show up in an email, it is critical that your users have learned to identify phishing techniques. Your ultimate protection is a solid process for performing and keeping offsite backups plus the use of dependable recovery tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Susceptibility Report in Reston
For pricing information and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Audit can enhance your protection against ransomware in Reston, phone Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.