Guadalajara 24x7 Immediate Ransomware
Infection Damage Assessment and Restoration Services

Crypto-Ransomware : Your Feared Information Technology Catastrophe
Ransomware has become a modern cyber pandemic that poses an enterprise-level danger for businesses of all sizes poorly prepared for an assault. Multiple generations of ransomware like the CrySIS, CryptoWall, Bad Rabbit, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been replicating for many years and continue to inflict destruction. More recent variants of crypto-ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, Conti or Nephilim, as well as daily unnamed malware, not only encrypt online data files but also infect any configured system backup. Data replicated to off-site disaster recovery sites can also be ransomed. In a poorly architected system, it can make automated restoration hopeless and basically knocks the network back to zero.

Retrieving services and information after a ransomware intrusion becomes a race against time as the victim tries its best to stop lateral movement, remove the ransomware, and resume enterprise-critical activity. Due to the fact that ransomware takes time to spread, attacks are frequently launched during weekends and nights, when successful penetrations in many cases take more time to identify. This multiplies the difficulty of promptly assembling and orchestrating a qualified mitigation team.

Progent makes available an assortment of help services for protecting organizations from ransomware events. These include team education to help recognize and not fall victim to phishing attempts, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, plus installation of the latest generation security solutions with artificial intelligence technology from SentinelOne to identify and quarantine zero-day cyber attacks quickly. Progent also offers the assistance of seasoned crypto-ransomware recovery professionals with the track record and commitment to reconstruct a breached environment as quickly as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Support Services
After a crypto-ransomware attack, paying the ransom in cryptocurrency does not guarantee that cyber criminals will return the keys to decipher all your information. Kaspersky Labs ascertained that 17% of ransomware victims never restored their information even after having sent off the ransom, resulting in more losses. The risk is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are typically several hundred thousand dollars. For larger enterprises, the ransom can reach millions of dollars. The fallback is to setup from scratch the vital parts of your IT environment. Without the availability of full information backups, this calls for a wide complement of IT skills, top notch team management, and the capability to work non-stop until the task is completed.

For two decades, Progent has offered expert IT services for businesses across the U.S. and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts includes engineers who have attained advanced certifications in important technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity specialists have earned internationally-renowned industry certifications including CISM, CISSP, CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (See Progent's certifications). Progent in addition has experience with financial systems and ERP application software. This breadth of expertise provides Progent the capability to efficiently identify critical systems and organize the remaining parts of your IT system after a ransomware attack and assemble them into an operational network.

Progent's security team utilizes state-of-the-art project management systems to coordinate the complicated recovery process. Progent understands the importance of working quickly and together with a customer's management and Information Technology resources to prioritize tasks and to get key services back on-line as soon as humanly possible.

Client Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Virus Recovery
A small business hired Progent after their network was brought down by the Ryuk ransomware virus. Ryuk is believed to have been created by Northern Korean government sponsored hackers, possibly adopting strategies leaked from the United States National Security Agency. Ryuk targets specific businesses with limited room for operational disruption and is one of the most profitable iterations of crypto-ransomware. Major victims include Data Resolution, a California-based information warehousing and cloud computing firm, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a small manufacturing business located in the Chicago metro area with around 500 staff members. The Ryuk event had shut down all company operations and manufacturing processes. The majority of the client's backups had been directly accessible at the time of the attack and were damaged. The client was evaluating paying the ransom (more than $200,000) and praying for the best, but in the end engaged Progent.

Progent worked with the customer to rapidly get our arms around and prioritize the most important applications that needed to be recovered in order to restart company functions:

• Windows Active Directory
• Electronic Messaging
• MRP System

In less than 48 hours, Progent was able to rebuild Active Directory to its pre-attack state. Progent then performed reinstallations and hard drive recovery on mission critical systems. All Exchange Server data and attributes were usable, which accelerated the restore of Exchange. Progent was also able to locate intact OST data files (Microsoft Outlook Offline Data Files) on team PCs in order to recover email data. A not too old offline backup of the customer's financials/MRP software made them able to return these vital programs back online. Although significant work needed to be completed to recover fully from the Ryuk attack, critical services were recovered quickly:

Over the following month critical milestones in the recovery project were accomplished in tight cooperation between Progent consultants and the client:

• Internal web applications were restored with no loss of data.
• The MailStore Server with over four million archived messages was brought on-line and accessible to users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoicing/AP/AR/Inventory functions were fully restored.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 firewall was installed.
• Most of the desktops and laptops were fully operational.

Conclusion
A probable business catastrophe was avoided by top-tier professionals, a broad range of technical expertise, and tight collaboration. Although in retrospect the ransomware attack detailed here should have been disabled with modern security technology solutions and NIST Cybersecurity Framework or ISO/IEC 27001 best practices, user and IT administrator education, and appropriate security procedures for information protection and proper patching controls, the fact is that state-sponsored cyber criminals from Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are tireless and are not going away. If you do get hit by a ransomware virus, remember that Progent's team of experts has proven experience in ransomware virus blocking, removal, and information systems disaster recovery.

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

Additional Crypto-Ransomware Protection Services Available from Progent
Progent can provide companies in Guadalajara a range of online monitoring and security assessment services designed to assist you to minimize your vulnerability to crypto-ransomware. These services include next-generation artificial intelligence capability to uncover new variants of crypto-ransomware that are able to 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 feasible for small and mid-size companies to deploy Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology to create advanced network resilience. Progent takes care of the daily monitoring and maintenance for you, so your network scales 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. Entry-level packages include remote monitoring and management, cybersecurity, monthly patching, and reporting. As your requirements expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to best-in-class options such as SaaS M365/Google Workspace backup and restore, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), pen testing, or WiFi management.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Remote Monitoring and Management
  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 keep your network running efficiently by checking the state of critical assets that drive your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alarm is transmitted immediately to your designated IT staff and your assigned Progent consultant so that any looming problems can be resolved before they have a chance to impact productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop remote monitoring consulting.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Centralized RMM Solution for Networks, Servers, and Workstations
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software delivers a unified, cloud-based platform for monitoring and managing your network, server, and desktop devices by offering an environment for streamlining common tedious jobs. These can include health checking, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint deployment, backup and recovery, anti-virus response, secure remote access, built-in and custom scripts, resource inventory, endpoint profile reports, and troubleshooting support. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious issue, it sends an alert to your specified IT personnel and your assigned Progent consultant so emerging issues can be taken care of before they impact your network. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM server and desktop monitoring consulting.

• ProSight WAN Watch: Infrastructure Management
  ProSight WAN Watch is an infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it easy and inexpensive for smaller businesses to map, track, enhance and troubleshoot their networking hardware like switches, firewalls, and access points plus servers, printers, endpoints and other networked devices. Using cutting-edge Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology, WAN Watch ensures that infrastructure topology maps are always updated, copies and manages the configuration of virtually all devices connected to your network, monitors performance, and generates notices when issues are discovered. By automating time-consuming network management processes, ProSight WAN Watch can cut hours off ordinary chores such as making network diagrams, expanding your network, locating devices that require critical updates, or isolating performance issues. Learn more details about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure monitoring and management consulting.

• ProSight Reporting: In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Applications
  ProSight Reporting is a growing suite of real-time and in-depth management reporting tools created to integrate with the industry's leading ticketing and remote network monitoring applications including ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and utilizes color coding to surface and contextualize key issues like inconsistent support follow-up or endpoints with missing patches. By exposing ticketing or network health concerns concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting enhances productivity, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For more information, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring platforms.

• ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS): Backup and Disaster Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with advanced backup software companies to create ProSight Data Protection Services, a portfolio of subscription-based management offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS services automate and monitor your data backup operations and allow transparent backup and fast recovery of vital files, applications, images, plus VMs. ProSight DPS lets you protect against data loss resulting from equipment failures, natural disasters, fire, malware like ransomware, user mistakes, malicious insiders, or software glitches. Managed backup services in the ProSight Data Protection Services product family include ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight DPS ECHO Backup based on Barracuda purpose-built hardware, and ProSight MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent consultant can help you to determine 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 and virus filtering service that incorporates the technology of top information security companies to deliver web-based management and world-class protection for all your inbound and outbound email. The powerful architecture of Progent's Email Guard managed service integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with a local gateway appliance to provide advanced defense against spam, viruses, Dos Attacks, DHAs, and other email-borne malware. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer acts as a first line of defense and blocks most unwanted email from making it to your security perimeter. This reduces your exposure to inbound threats and saves system bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's onsite gateway appliance provides a further layer of inspection for inbound email. For outgoing email, the on-premises gateway offers anti-virus and anti-spam filtering, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The onsite security gateway can also assist Exchange Server to monitor and safeguard internal email traffic that originates and ends inside your corporate firewall. For more information, see Email Guard spam and content filtering.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: ID Confirmation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Secure Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo MFA managed services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to verify who you are via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added means of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. For more information about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Call Center: Help Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Help Desk services permit your information technology staff to offload Help Desk services to Progent or divide responsibilities for support services seamlessly between your internal network support resources and Progent's nationwide pool of certified IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service provides a transparent supplement to your core support organization. End user interaction with the Service Desk, delivery of support services, escalation, ticket generation and updates, performance metrics, and maintenance of the support database are consistent regardless of whether issues are taken care of by your internal network support staff, by Progent's team, or both. Learn more about Progent's outsourced/shared Service Center services.

• Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Detection and Cleanup
  Progent's Active Defense Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection managed service that incorporates next generation behavior analysis technology to defend endpoints and physical and virtual servers against modern malware assaults like ransomware and email phishing, which routinely get by traditional signature-based AV tools. Progent ASM services protect on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a single platform to manage the entire threat progression including blocking, infiltration detection, containment, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Top capabilities include single-click rollback with Windows VSS and real-time network-wide immunization against new threats. Learn more about Progent's ransomware defense 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, update, find and protect information about your IT infrastructure, procedures, applications, and services. You can instantly find passwords or serial numbers and be alerted automatically about impending expirations of SSLs or domains. By updating and organizing your network documentation, you can save as much as half of time wasted looking for vital information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a common repository for storing and collaborating on all documents required for managing your business network like recommended procedures and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports a high level of automation for collecting and relating IT information. Whether you're making improvements, doing maintenance, or reacting to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the knowledge you need the instant you need it. Learn more about Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for patch management provide organizations of any size a flexible and cost-effective solution for evaluating, validating, scheduling, implementing, and documenting software and firmware updates to your dynamic IT network. In addition to optimizing the security and reliability of your IT environment, Progent's patch management services permit your IT team to focus on line-of-business initiatives and tasks that derive maximum business value from your network. Find out more about Progent's software/firmware update management support services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted Virtual Machines at Progent's Tier III Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small business can have its key servers and apps hosted in a protected fault tolerant data center on a fast virtual host configured and managed by Progent's IT support experts. Under Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the client retains ownership of the data, the OS platforms, and the apps. Since the system is virtualized, it can be ported immediately to a different hardware solution without a time-consuming and difficult 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
  ProSight Active Security Monitoring is an endpoint protection solution that utilizes SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior-based analysis tools to guard physical and virtual endpoint devices against modern malware attacks such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely escape traditional signature-matching AV tools. ProSight ASM safeguards on-premises and cloud-based resources and provides a unified platform to automate the complete malware attack lifecycle including filtering, detection, containment, cleanup, and forensics. Key features include single-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (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 defense.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Endpoint Security and Exchange Email Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) managed services offer economical in-depth protection for physical servers and virtual machines, workstations, mobile devices, and Exchange Server. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for continuously monitoring and responding to security threats from all vectors. ProSight ESP offers two-way firewall protection, penetration alerts, endpoint management, and web filtering via leading-edge tools packaged within a single agent managed from a single control. Progent's security and virtualization consultants can help you to design and configure a ProSight ESP deployment that meets your company's specific needs and that helps you achieve and demonstrate compliance with government and industry information security regulations. Progent will help you define and configure policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and react to alerts that require urgent action. Progent can also assist your company to install and test a backup and disaster recovery solution such as ProSight Data Protection Services so you can recover rapidly from a potentially disastrous security attack such as ransomware. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified endpoint protection and Exchange filtering.