Sarasota Ransomware Protection and Removal Solutions

Ransomware has been widely adopted by the major cyber-crime organizations and malicious states, representing a possibly lethal threat to businesses that fall victim. Current variations of crypto-ransomware go after all vulnerable resources, including online backup, making even partial recovery a long and expensive process. New versions of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Netwalker, Phobos, Conti and Nephilim have made the headlines, replacing Locky, Cerber, and NotPetya in prominence, elaborateness, and destructiveness.

90% of ransomware breaches are caused by innocuous-seeming emails with malicious hyperlinks or attachments, and many are so-called "zero-day" variants that can escape the defenses of legacy signature-matching antivirus (AV) tools. While user training and up-front detection are important to defend against ransomware, leading practices dictate that you assume some attacks will eventually get through and that you put in place a strong backup solution that enables you to repair the damage rapidly with minimal damage.

Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Report is a low-cost service centered around a remote interview with a Progent cybersecurity expert skilled in ransomware protection and recovery. During this interview Progent will work directly with your Sarasota IT managers to gather pertinent information about your security configuration and backup processes. Progent will use this information to create a Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment documenting how to apply best practices for configuring and administering your cybersecurity and backup solution to block or clean up after a crypto-ransomware attack.

Progent's Basic Security and Best Practices Assessment focuses on key areas associated with ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The review covers:

Security

• Effective allocation and use of administration accounts
• Correct NTFS (New Technology File System) and SMB authorizations
• Optimal firewall setup
• Secure RDP configuration
• Guidance for AntiVirus tools identification and configuration

• Split permission architecture for backup protection
• Backing up critical servers such as Active Directory
• Geographically dispersed backups with cloud backup to Microsoft Azure

About Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts or steals a victim's files so they cannot be used or are made publicly available. Ransomware sometimes locks the target's computer. To prevent the carnage, the victim is asked to send a specified amount of money, typically via a crypto currency such as Bitcoin, within a short time window. It is never certain that paying the extortion price will recover the lost data or avoid its exposure to the public. Files can be altered or erased across a network based on the victim's write permissions, and you cannot reverse engineer the strong encryption algorithms used on the hostage files. A common ransomware delivery package is booby-trapped email, in which the target is tricked into responding to by a social engineering technique called spear phishing. This causes the email to look as though it came from a familiar source. Another popular vulnerability is an improperly protected Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port.

CryptoLocker opened the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by different strains of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars per year, roughly doubling every two years. Notorious attacks include Locky, and NotPetya. Recent headline threats like Ryuk, Sodinokibi and TeslaCrypt are more elaborate and have wreaked more havoc than older versions. Even if your backup/recovery procedures permit you to recover your ransomed files, you can still be threatened by so-called exfiltration, where stolen data are exposed to the public. Because new variants of ransomware are launched daily, there is no certainty that conventional signature-matching anti-virus tools will block a new malware. If an attack does show up in an email, it is important that your end users have learned to be aware of phishing techniques. Your ultimate defense is a solid process for scheduling and retaining remote backups plus the deployment of dependable recovery tools.

Ask Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Readiness Checkup in Sarasota
For pricing information and to find out more about how Progent's ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Susceptibility Review can bolster your defense against ransomware in Sarasota, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or see Contact Progent.