Winston-Salem Ransomware Defense and Recovery Consulting
Ransomware Susceptibility Audit
Ransomware has been weaponized by cyber extortionists and rogue governments, representing a possibly lethal threat to businesses that are victimized. Current strains of ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including online backup, making even partial restoration a challenging and costly process. New strains of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Phobos, Snatch and Egregor have emerged, displacing WannaCry, TeslaCrypt, and Petya in notoriety, elaborateness, and destructiveness.
90% of ransomware penetrations are the result of innocuous-looking emails with dangerous hyperlinks or attachments, and a high percentage are so-called "zero-day" variants that elude detection by legacy signature-matching antivirus (AV) filters. Although user training and up-front identification are important to defend against ransomware attacks, best practices demand that you take for granted some malware will eventually get through and that you deploy a strong backup mechanism that allows you to restore files and services rapidly with minimal losses.
Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Checkup is a low-cost service built around a remote interview with a Progent security consultant skilled in ransomware defense and repair. In the course of this interview Progent will cooperate with your Winston-Salem IT management staff to collect critical information about your security setup and backup processes. Progent will utilize this information to generate a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment detailing how to adhere to leading practices for implementing and managing your cybersecurity and backup solution to prevent or clean up after a ransomware attack.
Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Report highlights key issues related to crypto-ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The review covers:
Security
- Proper use of admin accounts
- Assigning NTFS and SMB (Server Message Block) authorizations
- Optimal firewall configuration
- Safe Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connections
- Advice about AntiVirus (AV) filtering identification and configuration
- Split permission model for backup protection
- Protecting critical servers including AD
- Offsite backups with cloud backup to Microsoft Azure
About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts or steals files so they cannot be used or are publicized. Crypto-ransomware often locks the victim's computer. To prevent the carnage, the victim is required to send a specified amount of money, usually in the form of a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a short time window. There is no guarantee that paying the extortion price will restore the lost data or prevent its publication. Files can be altered or erased throughout a network based on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot break the military-grade encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A common ransomware attack vector is spoofed email, in which the target is tricked into responding to by a social engineering exploit known as spear phishing. This causes the email to look as though it came from a trusted source. Another popular vulnerability is a poorly secured RDP port.
The ransomware variant CryptoLocker ushered in the modern era of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses attributed to by the many versions of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars per year, roughly doubling every two years. Famous examples are WannaCry, and Petya. Recent headline threats like Ryuk, Maze and Cerber are more elaborate and have caused more damage than earlier versions. Even if your backup/recovery procedures enable you to restore your ransomed data, you can still be hurt by so-called exfiltration, where ransomed documents are made public (known as "doxxing"). Because additional variants of ransomware crop up daily, there is no guarantee that traditional signature-based anti-virus filters will detect a new attack. If an attack does appear in an email, it is critical that your users have been taught to be aware of phishing techniques. Your last line of protection is a solid scheme for performing and retaining offsite backups and the use of dependable restoration platforms.
Contact Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Readiness Checkup in Winston-Salem
For pricing details and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Ransomware Vulnerability Consultation can enhance your protection against crypto-ransomware in Winston-Salem, phone Progent at
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