Augusta-Richmond County 24/7 Emergency Ransomware
Computer Virus Damage Assessment and Removal Experts

Ransomware : Your Feared Information Technology Disaster
Crypto-Ransomware has become a too-frequent cyber pandemic that represents an existential danger for organizations vulnerable to an attack. Different iterations of ransomware like the Reveton, WannaCry, Bad Rabbit, NotPetya and MongoLock cryptoworms have been around for many years and still inflict havoc. Newer strains of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, DopplePaymer, LockBit or Egregor, plus additional as yet unnamed newcomers, not only do encryption of online critical data but also infect many available system protection mechanisms. Information replicated to off-site disaster recovery sites can also be ransomed. In a poorly designed data protection solution, it can make any recovery hopeless and basically knocks the entire system back to square one.

Getting back on-line applications and data after a ransomware intrusion becomes a sprint against the clock as the targeted business tries its best to contain the damage, cleanup the ransomware, and resume mission-critical operations. Because ransomware requires time to replicate, attacks are often launched during weekends and nights, when penetrations typically take more time to uncover. This multiplies the difficulty of rapidly marshalling and coordinating an experienced mitigation team.

Progent has a range of support services for protecting businesses from ransomware attacks. These include staff education to help recognize and avoid phishing exploits, ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) for remote monitoring and management, plus deployment of modern security gateways with AI capabilities from SentinelOne to discover and quarantine new cyber attacks rapidly. Progent also can provide the assistance of veteran crypto-ransomware recovery engineers with the talent and commitment to restore a compromised environment as soon as possible.

Progent's Crypto-Ransomware Recovery Services
After a ransomware event, paying the ransom demands in cryptocurrency does not provide any assurance that merciless criminals will respond with the codes to decrypt all your data. Kaspersky Labs determined that 17% of ransomware victims never recovered their data after having paid the ransom, resulting in additional losses. The risk is also very costly. Ryuk ransoms are often a few hundred thousand dollars. For larger enterprises, the ransom demand can reach millions of dollars. The alternative is to piece back together the critical elements of your Information Technology environment. Without access to essential information backups, this requires a broad complement of skill sets, top notch project management, and the ability to work continuously until the job is finished.

For twenty years, Progent has offered professional Information Technology services for businesses across the United States and has earned Microsoft's Partnership certification status in the Datacenter and Cloud Productivity competencies. Progent's team of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes consultants who have been awarded advanced industry certifications in leading technologies including Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and major distributions of Linux. Progent's cyber security specialists have earned internationally-renowned industry certifications including CISA, CISSP-ISSAP, ISACA CRISC, GIAC, and CMMC 2.0. (Refer to Progent's certifications). Progent also has expertise in financial systems and ERP applications. This breadth of experience gives Progent the skills to rapidly identify necessary systems and organize the surviving parts of your Information Technology system after a ransomware penetration and assemble them into an operational network.

Progent's security team has state-of-the-art project management tools to coordinate the complicated recovery process. Progent knows the importance of working rapidly and in unison with a customer's management and IT resources to prioritize tasks and to get critical systems back online as fast as possible.

Customer Story: A Successful Crypto-Ransomware Virus Recovery
A client contacted Progent after their network system was brought down by Ryuk ransomware virus. Ryuk is generally considered to have been deployed by North Korean state cybercriminals, suspected of adopting algorithms leaked from the United States NSA organization. Ryuk goes after specific companies with little or no ability to sustain disruption and is one of the most lucrative iterations of crypto-ransomware. High publicized victims include Data Resolution, a California-based info warehousing and cloud computing business, and the Chicago Tribune. Progent's customer is a small manufacturing business located in Chicago and has about 500 staff members. The Ryuk intrusion had brought down all essential operations and manufacturing capabilities. The majority of the client's backups had been online at the start of the attack and were damaged. The client was actively seeking loans for paying the ransom (exceeding two hundred thousand dollars) and hoping for the best, but in the end made the decision to use Progent.

Progent worked hand in hand the client to quickly get our arms around and assign priority to the critical systems that had to be recovered in order to restart departmental functions:

• Microsoft Active Directory
• Electronic Mail
• Financials/MRP

Within 2 days, Progent was able to recover Windows Active Directory to its pre-penetration state. Progent then accomplished reinstallations and hard drive recovery of key servers. All Exchange Server ties and configuration information were intact, which facilitated the restore of Exchange. Progent was also able to assemble intact OST files (Microsoft Outlook Offline Folder Files) on team PCs in order to recover email data. A not too old offline backup of the businesses accounting systems made them able to restore these required applications back available to users. Although significant work was left to recover fully from the Ryuk damage, core services were recovered rapidly:

During the following couple of weeks critical milestones in the recovery process were made through close cooperation between Progent engineers and the customer:

• Internal web applications were brought back up with no loss of data.
• The MailStore Server exceeding four million historical messages was restored to operations and available for users.
• CRM/Customer Orders/Invoices/Accounts Payable (AP)/Accounts Receivables/Inventory Control functions were fully operational.
• A new Palo Alto Networks 850 firewall was brought on-line.
• Most of the user PCs were operational.

Conclusion
A possible company-ending catastrophe was avoided through the efforts of dedicated experts, a broad array of knowledge, and close teamwork. Although in retrospect the crypto-ransomware virus incident described here would have been identified and blocked with up-to-date cyber security technology solutions and security best practices, user and IT administrator training, and appropriate security procedures for data protection and applying software patches, the fact is that state-sponsored criminal cyber gangs from Russia, North Korea and elsewhere are relentless and are an ongoing threat. If you do get hit by a ransomware penetration, feel confident that Progent's roster of professionals has extensive experience in ransomware virus defense, mitigation, and information systems recovery.

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 Ransomware Protection Services Offered by Progent
Progent can provide businesses in Augusta-Richmond County a variety of online monitoring and security assessment services to help you to reduce your vulnerability to crypto-ransomware. These services include next-generation AI technology to detect zero-day variants of crypto-ransomware that are able to get past legacy signature-based security solutions.

• 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 businesses 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 expands readily without becoming an obstacle. For an affordable and predictable monthly subscription, Progent's full-service IT group can be your dependable technology safety net. Basic plans include RMM, security, monthly patching, and reporting. As your requirements expand, you can add low-cost subscriptions to advanced options like as SaaS M365/Google Workspace backup and restore, Multi-Factor Authentication, pen testing, or WiFi management.

• ProSight LAN Watch: Server and Desktop Monitoring and Management
  ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring service that uses state-of-the-art remote monitoring and management (RMM) techniques to help keep your IT system operating at peak levels by tracking the health of critical assets that drive your business network. When ProSight LAN Watch uncovers an issue, an alarm is transmitted automatically to your designated IT staff and your Progent consultant so any potential problems can be addressed before they can disrupt your network. Learn more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring services.

• ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM: Unified RMM for Networks, Servers, and Desktops
  ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM software delivers a unified, cloud-driven platform for managing your network, server, and desktop devices by providing an environment for performing common tedious jobs. These include health checking, patch management, automated remediation, endpoint configuration, backup and restore, A/V response, secure remote access, standard and custom scripts, resource inventory, endpoint status reports, and troubleshooting assistance. If ProSight LAN Watch with NinjaOne RMM identifies a serious problem, it transmits an alarm to your designated IT personnel and your assigned Progent consultant so that emerging issues 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 a network infrastructure monitoring and management service that makes it easy and inexpensive for smaller organizations to diagram, monitor, reconfigure and troubleshoot their connectivity appliances such as routers and switches, firewalls, and wireless controllers plus servers, printers, endpoints and other devices. Incorporating state-of-the-art Remote Monitoring and Management technology, ProSight WAN Watch makes sure that infrastructure topology diagrams are always updated, copies and manages the configuration information of almost all devices on your network, monitors performance, and generates alerts when problems are discovered. By automating time-consuming management activities, ProSight WAN Watch can cut hours off ordinary chores like network mapping, reconfiguring your network, locating devices that need critical updates, or resolving performance problems. Learn more details about ProSight WAN Watch infrastructure monitoring and management consulting.

• ProSight Reporting: In-depth Reporting for Ticketing and Network Monitoring Platforms
  ProSight Reporting is an expanding family of real-time management reporting tools designed to work with the industry's top 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 highlight and contextualize key issues such as spotty support follow-up or endpoints with out-of-date AVs. By exposing ticketing or network health problems clearly and in near-real time, ProSight Reporting improves network value, reduces management hassle, and saves money. For more information, visit ProSight Reporting for ticketing and network monitoring applications.

• ProSight Data Protection Services: Managed Backup and Recovery Services
  Progent has worked with leading backup/restore software providers to create ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a family of subscription-based offerings that deliver backup-as-a-service (BaaS). ProSight DPS services automate and track your backup processes and enable transparent backup and fast restoration of important files/folders, apps, system images, plus Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines. ProSight DPS lets your business avoid data loss resulting from equipment breakdown, natural calamities, fire, malware like ransomware, human mistakes, ill-intentioned insiders, or application glitches. Managed backup services in the ProSight DPS portfolio include ProSight Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro 365 Backup), ProSight DPS ECHO Backup using Barracuda dedicated storage, and ProSight DPS MSP360 Hybrid Backup. Your Progent consultant can help you to identify which of these fully managed services are best suited for your network.

• 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 leading data security companies to deliver centralized management and world-class protection for all your inbound and outbound email. The hybrid structure of Progent's Email Guard managed service integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with an on-premises security gateway device to provide advanced protection against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks, and other email-borne threats. The Cloud Protection Layer serves as a first line of defense and keeps the vast majority of unwanted email from making it to your security perimeter. This reduces your exposure to external threats and saves network bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's onsite security gateway device provides a further level of inspection for incoming email. For outgoing email, the onsite gateway provides anti-virus and anti-spam filtering, DLP, and email encryption. The local 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 ProSight Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.

• ProSight Duo Multi-Factor Authentication: ID Confirmation, Endpoint Remediation, and Protected Single Sign-on (SSO)
  Progent's Duo MFA services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you log into a protected online account and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized as this second means of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. For details about Duo identity authentication services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services.

• Progent's Outsourced/Shared Help Center: Help Desk Managed Services
  Progent's Support Desk managed services permit your IT staff to offload Help Desk services to Progent or divide activity for Service Desk support transparently between your internal support group and Progent's extensive pool of IT support technicians, engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Co-managed Service Desk offers a smooth supplement to your corporate support resources. User interaction with the Help Desk, delivery of technical assistance, escalation, trouble ticket generation and tracking, performance measurement, and management of the support database are cohesive regardless of whether incidents are resolved by your corporate support group, by Progent's team, or a mix of the two. Learn more about Progent's outsourced/shared Help Center services.

• Progent Active Defense Against Ransomware: Machine Learning-based Ransomware Detection and Remediation
  Progent's Active Protection Against Ransomware is an endpoint protection managed service that incorporates next generation behavior machine learning technology to defend endpoint devices and physical and virtual servers against new malware assaults such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely get by traditional signature-based anti-virus tools. Progent Active Security Monitoring services safeguard on-premises and cloud resources and offers a single platform to address the entire threat lifecycle including filtering, detection, mitigation, remediation, and forensics. Key features include single-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic network-wide immunization against new threats. Find out more about Progent's ransomware protection and cleanup services.

• ProSight IT Asset Management: Network Documentation Management
  Progent's 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, applications, and services. You can quickly locate passwords or serial numbers and be alerted about impending expirations of SSL certificates ,domains or warranties. By cleaning up and organizing your IT infrastructure documentation, you can save up to 50% of time wasted searching for vital information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management includes a common repository for holding and collaborating on all documents required for managing your network infrastructure like recommended procedures and self-service instructions. ProSight IT Asset Management also supports advanced automation for collecting and associating IT data. Whether you're planning enhancements, performing maintenance, or reacting to an emergency, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the information you need when you need it. Read more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• Patch Management: Patch Management Services
  Progent's managed services for patch management provide businesses of any size a flexible and affordable alternative for assessing, validating, scheduling, implementing, and tracking software and firmware updates to your dynamic information network. Besides optimizing the security and functionality of your IT network, Progent's patch management services free up time for your IT team to focus on line-of-business initiatives and activities that derive maximum business value from your information network. Find out more about Progent's software/firmware update management support services.

• ProSight Virtual Hosting: Hosted VMs at Progent's Tier III Data Center
  With ProSight Virtual Hosting service, a small or mid-size business can have its key servers and apps hosted in a secure fault tolerant data center on a fast virtual machine host configured and managed by Progent's network support experts. Under the ProSight Virtual Hosting model, the client owns the data, the OS platforms, and the apps. Because the system is virtualized, it can be ported easily to a different hosting environment without requiring a lengthy and difficult configuration process. With ProSight Virtual Hosting, your business is not locked into one hosting service. Learn more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services.

• ProSight Active Security Monitoring: Endpoint Protection and Ransomware Defense
  ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection service that utilizes SentinelOne's cutting edge behavior machine learning technology to defend physical and virtual endpoint devices against new malware attacks such as ransomware and file-less exploits, which routinely evade traditional signature-based AV products. ProSight ASM safeguards local and cloud resources and offers a unified platform to address the complete threat progression including protection, identification, mitigation, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include one-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) and real-time network-wide immunization against new attacks. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery.

• ProSight Enhanced Security Protection: Endpoint Protection and Microsoft Exchange Filtering
  ProSight Enhanced Security Protection managed services offer ultra-affordable multi-layer protection for physical and virtual servers, desktops, smartphones, and Exchange Server. ProSight ESP utilizes contextual security and advanced heuristics for continuously monitoring and responding to security threats from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers two-way firewall protection, penetration alarms, device control, and web filtering through leading-edge tools packaged within a single agent managed from a single console. Progent's data protection and virtualization experts can help your business to plan and configure a ProSight ESP deployment that meets your company's specific needs and that helps you achieve and demonstrate compliance with legal and industry information security regulations. Progent will help you specify and implement security policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your network and react to alerts that call for immediate action. Progent's consultants can also help your company to set up and verify a backup and restore system like ProSight Data Protection Services so you can get back in business rapidly from a potentially disastrous security attack like ransomware. Find out more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) unified endpoint security and Exchange filtering.