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Malware Assessment and Repair Experts

Crypto-Ransomware : Your Feared Information Technology Disaster
Ransomware has become a modern cyberplague that represents an existential danger for organizations poorly prepared for an assault. Different iterations of ransomware like the Reveton, WannaCry, Locky, Syskey and MongoLock cryptoworms have been replicating for years and still inflict damage. Recent versions of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, Snatch or Nephilim, as well as more unnamed newcomers, not only encrypt on-line data but also infiltrate all available system restores and backups. Information replicated to cloud environments can also be held hostage. In a poorly designed data protection solution, this can render automatic restore operations useless and effectively sets the datacenter back to zero.

Getting back on-line programs and information after a crypto-ransomware event becomes a race against the clock as the victim tries its best to stop lateral movement, eradicate the ransomware, and resume enterprise-critical operations. Because ransomware takes time to replicate, assaults are frequently launched on weekends and holidays, when successful penetrations typically take longer to recognize. This multiplies the difficulty of quickly assembling and organizing a qualified mitigation team.

Progent makes available an assortment of help services for securing organizations from crypto-ransomware penetrations. These include team education to help recognize and avoid phishing scams, ProSight Active Security Monitoring for remote monitoring and management, in addition to installation of next-generation security appliances with artificial intelligence capabilities from SentinelOne to identify and disable new cyber attacks quickly. Progent in addition provides the services of experienced ransomware recovery engineers with the track record and perseverance to re-deploy a breached environment as soon as possible.

Progent's Ransomware Recovery Help
Following a crypto-ransomware invasion, even paying the ransom in cryptocurrency does not guarantee that distant criminals will respond with the keys to decipher any or all of your files. Kaspersky ascertained that 17% of ransomware victims never recovered their files after having paid the ransom, resulting in increased losses. The gamble is also costly. Ryuk ransoms are commonly a few hundred thousand dollars. For larger enterprises, the ransom demand can reach millions of dollars. The fallback is to piece back together the essential elements of your IT environment. Without access to complete data backups, this calls for a wide complement of IT skills, well-coordinated project management, and the capability to work non-stop until the task is completed.

For twenty years, Progent has provided professional IT services for companies throughout the U.S. and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's pool of subject matter experts includes consultants who have attained top industry certifications in important technologies such as Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and popular distributions of Linux. Progent's cybersecurity consultants have earned internationally-recognized industry certifications including CISA, CISSP-ISSAP, ISACA CRISC, SANS GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (See Progent's certifications). Progent also has expertise with financial management and ERP software solutions. This breadth of experience affords Progent the ability to quickly ascertain important systems and integrate the surviving pieces of your computer network environment after a crypto-ransomware event and assemble them into an operational network.

Progent's ransomware group has state-of-the-art project management applications to coordinate the complicated recovery process. Progent appreciates the urgency of working swiftly and together with a client's management and IT resources to prioritize tasks and to put essential systems back on-line as soon as possible.

Customer Case Study: A Successful Ransomware Attack Recovery
A small business contacted Progent after their network was attacked by Ryuk crypto-ransomware. Ryuk is generally considered to have been launched by North Korean state sponsored hackers, possibly using strategies leaked from the U.S. NSA organization. Ryuk attacks specific businesses with little tolerance for disruption and is among the most lucrative iterations of crypto-ransomware. Well Known organizations include Data Resolution, a California-based information warehousing and cloud computing firm, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a small manufacturer based in Chicago with around 500 employees. The Ryuk attack had brought down all essential operations and manufacturing processes. The majority of the client's data backups had been online at the start of the attack and were eventually encrypted. The client was taking steps for paying the ransom demand (in excess of $200K) and hoping for good luck, but in the end called Progent.

Progent worked hand in hand the customer to quickly assess and assign priority to the critical services that had to be addressed to make it possible to continue business functions:

• Active Directory (AD)
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Accounting and Manufacturing Software

In less than 2 days, Progent was able to rebuild Active Directory services to its pre-attack state. Progent then completed reinstallations and hard drive recovery of key servers. All Exchange ties and attributes were usable, which accelerated the rebuild of Exchange. Progent was able to assemble local OST data files (Microsoft Outlook Off-Line Data Files) on various desktop computers to recover email information. A recent offline backup of the client's financials/MRP software made them able to recover these required applications back on-line. Although significant work remained to recover completely from the Ryuk attack, the most important services were recovered rapidly:

Over the next couple of weeks key milestones in the restoration process were made in close cooperation between Progent consultants and the client:

• Self-hosted web applications were brought back up without losing any information.
• The MailStore Server exceeding four million archived emails was restored to operations and accessible to users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoicing/Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivables/Inventory Control functions were 100 percent recovered.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 firewall was set up.
• Nearly all of the user desktops were fully operational.

Conclusion
A probable business-killing disaster was evaded with hard-working experts, a wide range of subject matter expertise, and tight teamwork. Although in post mortem the ransomware incident detailed here could have been identified and stopped with up-to-date cyber security systems and NIST Cybersecurity Framework best practices, user and IT administrator education, and well thought out incident response procedures for information protection and keeping systems up to date with security patches, the fact is that state-sponsored cybercriminals from Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are relentless and will continue. If you do get hit by a ransomware penetration, remember that Progent's team of experts has substantial experience in crypto-ransomware virus defense, cleanup, and file restoration.

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

Additional Crypto-Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent can provide companies in Petaluma a range of online monitoring and security assessment services to help you to reduce the threat from crypto-ransomware. These services include modern artificial intelligence capability to detect zero-day strains of ransomware that are able to get past legacy signature-based anti-virus 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 businesses to utilize Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology to achieve advanced IT resilience. Progent handles the daily monitoring and management for you, so your system scales readily without holding you back. For a low and predictable monthly subscription, Progent's experienced IT group can be your complete technology safety net. Basic packages include remote monitoring and management, security, monthly patching, and documentation. As your requirements grow, you can add low-cost subscriptions to best-of-breed options such as SaaS M365/Google Workspace backup, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), 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 incorporates advanced remote monitoring and management (RMM) techniques to keep your network operating at peak levels by tracking the state of vital computers that power your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch detects a problem, an alert is transmitted immediately to your specified IT management staff and your Progent engineering consultant so that any looming problems can be addressed before they have a chance to disrupt productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop remote monitoring services.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Centralized RMM for Networks, Servers, and Desktops
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software delivers a centralized, cloud-driven platform for managing your client-server infrastructure by offering an environment for performing common time-consuming tasks. These can include health monitoring, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint configuration, backup and recovery, anti-virus response, remote access, standard and custom scripts, resource inventory, endpoint profile reporting, and debugging assistance. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM uncovers a serious problem, it transmits an alert to your designated IT personnel and your assigned Progent technical consultant so emerging issues can be fixed before they interfere with productivity. Learn more 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 an infrastructure management service that makes it simple and inexpensive for small and mid-sized businesses to diagram, monitor, reconfigure and troubleshoot their networking appliances such as switches, firewalls, and load balancers plus servers, endpoints and other networked devices. Using cutting-edge Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) technology, WAN Watch makes sure that network maps are kept current, copies and displays the configuration of virtually all devices connected to your network, monitors performance, and generates notices when issues are discovered. By automating complex management and troubleshooting processes, WAN Watch can knock hours off common chores like making network diagrams, expanding your network, finding devices that require critical updates, or isolating performance bottlenecks. Learn more about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure monitoring and management services.

• ProSight Reporting: Real-time and In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding line of real-time reporting tools created to integrate with the leading ticketing and remote network monitoring applications such as ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Automate, Customer Thermometer, Auvik, and SentinelOne. ProSight Reporting uses Microsoft Graph and features color coding to surface and contextualize key issues such as inconsistent support follow-through or endpoints with missing patches. By exposing ticketing or network health problems concisely and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting enhances network value, lowers management hassle, and saves money. For more information, see ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring platforms.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with leading backup software providers to produce ProSight Data Protection Services, a portfolio of subscription-based offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service. ProSight DPS products manage and monitor your data backup operations and enable transparent backup and rapid restoration of important files/folders, apps, system images, plus virtual machines. ProSight DPS helps you protect against data loss caused by hardware failures, natural disasters, fire, malware such as ransomware, user mistakes, ill-intentioned employees, or software bugs. Managed backup services available in the ProSight DPS portfolio 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 Cloud and On-prem Backup. Your Progent expert can help you to determine which of these fully 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 and email encryption service that incorporates the technology of top data security vendors to provide centralized control and world-class protection for all your email traffic. The powerful structure of Email Guard managed service integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with a local security gateway appliance to offer complete defense against spam, viruses, Dos Attacks, DHAs, and other email-borne threats. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer acts as a preliminary barricade and blocks most unwanted email from reaching your network firewall. This decreases your vulnerability to inbound threats and conserves system bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's onsite gateway appliance adds a further layer of analysis for incoming email. For outbound email, the local gateway offers anti-virus and anti-spam protection, policy-based Data Loss Prevention, and email encryption. The onsite gateway can also assist Microsoft Exchange Server to track and safeguard internal email that stays within 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 Secure Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo MFA services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and give your password you are asked to verify your identity on a device that only you have and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized for this second form of ID validation including a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register multiple validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for access security.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Call Center: Support Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Help Center managed services enable your information technology staff to offload Help Desk services to Progent or divide responsibilities for support services transparently between your in-house network support team and Progent's nationwide roster of IT service engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Shared Help Desk Service offers a smooth extension of your in-house network support staff. User interaction with the Help Desk, provision of support services, issue escalation, ticket creation and updates, performance measurement, and maintenance of the service database are consistent whether issues are taken care of by your in-house support resources, by Progent, or a mix of the two. Read more about Progent's outsourced/shared Call Center services.

• Progent Active Defense Against Ransomware: AI-based Ransomware Identification and Cleanup
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection solution that incorporates next generation behavior-based analysis tools to defend endpoint devices and physical and virtual servers against new malware attacks like ransomware and email phishing, which easily get by traditional signature-matching AV products. Progent Active Security Monitoring services safeguard on-premises and cloud-based resources and provides a single platform to manage the entire malware attack progression including protection, infiltration detection, containment, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include one-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic network-wide immunization against new attacks. 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 makes it easy to create, update, find and safeguard information related to your network infrastructure, processes, applications, and services. You can quickly locate passwords or IP addresses and be warned about impending expirations of SSL certificates or domains. By updating and managing your IT documentation, you can save up to half of time thrown away trying to find critical information about your IT network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a centralized repository for holding and sharing all documents related to managing your business network such as standard operating procedures (SOPs) and How-To's. ProSight IT Asset Management also offers a high level of automation for gathering and associating IT data. Whether you're making enhancements, doing maintenance, or responding to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the data you require the instant you need it. Read more about Progent's ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for patch management offer organizations of any size a versatile and affordable solution for assessing, validating, scheduling, implementing, and tracking software and firmware updates to your dynamic IT network. In addition to optimizing the protection and reliability of your IT network, Progent's software/firmware update management services free up time for your IT staff to concentrate on more strategic projects and tasks that deliver the highest business value from your information network. Learn more about Progent's software/firmware update management services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted VMs at Progent's World-class Data Center
  With Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small business can have its critical servers and apps hosted in a protected Tier III data center on a fast virtual machine host configured and managed by Progent's IT support professionals. Under Progent's ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the customer retains ownership of the data, the operating system platforms, and the apps. Since the system is virtualized, it can be moved immediately to a different hosting environment without requiring a lengthy and difficult configuration procedure. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, your business is not locked into a single 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 solution that utilizes SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior-based 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 safeguards on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to manage the complete malware attack progression including protection, identification, mitigation, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include single-click rollback using Windows VSS and real-time network-wide immunization against new threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Endpoint Security and Microsoft Exchange Email Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection services deliver economical in-depth protection for physical and virtual servers, desktops, mobile devices, and Exchange email. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and modern behavior analysis for round-the-clock monitoring and reacting to cyber assaults from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers firewall protection, penetration alarms, device control, and web filtering through cutting-edge technologies packaged within a single agent managed from a unified console. Progent's security and virtualization experts can assist your business to design and implement a ProSight ESP environment that meets your organization's unique needs and that allows you prove compliance with government and industry information protection regulations. Progent will help you specify and implement policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your network and respond to alarms that require urgent action. Progent can also assist you to install and verify a backup and restore system like ProSight Data Protection Services so you can get back in business quickly from a potentially disastrous cyber attack such as ransomware. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified physical and virtual endpoint protection and Exchange filtering.