Toronto Ransomware Filtering and Removal Consulting
Ransomware Preparedness Testing
Ransomware has become the weapon of choice for cyber extortionists and rogue governments, posing a potentially lethal threat to companies that are victimized. The latest variations of ransomware go after everything, including online backup, making even selective restoration a complex and expensive process. New variations of ransomware such as Ryuk, Maze, Sodinokibi, Mailto (aka Netwalker), Phobos, LockBit and Nephilim have made the headlines, displacing Locky, Cerber, and CryptoWall in prominence, elaborateness, and destructive impact.
Most ransomware infections are caused by innocent-seeming emails with malicious hyperlinks or attachments, and a high percentage are so-called "zero-day" attacks that can escape detection by legacy signature-based antivirus (AV) filters. While user education and frontline identification are important to protect against ransomware attacks, leading practices dictate that you assume some attacks will inevitably succeed and that you implement a solid backup mechanism that enables you to restore files and services quickly with little if any damage.
Progent's ProSight Ransomware Preparedness Assessment is an ultra-affordable service built around an online interview with a Progent cybersecurity expert skilled in ransomware protection and recovery. In the course of this interview Progent will work with your Toronto network management staff to gather critical data concerning your cybersecurity setup and backup processes. Progent will use this data to generate a Basic Security and Best Practices Report detailing how to adhere to 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 vital issues related to crypto-ransomware prevention and restoration recovery. The review addresses:
Security
- Effective use of administration accounts
- Correct NTFS and SMB permissions
- Optimal firewall settings
- Safe Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) access
- Advice about AntiVirus filtering selection and deployment
- Split permission architecture for backup protection
- Backing up required servers including AD
- Geographically dispersed backups including cloud backup to Azure
About Ransomware
Ransomware is a form of malicious software that encrypts or deletes a victim's files so they cannot be used or are publicized. Crypto-ransomware sometimes locks the target's computer. To prevent the carnage, the target is asked to pay a certain amount of money (the ransom), usually in the form of a crypto currency like Bitcoin, within a brief time window. It is never certain that paying the extortion price will recover the lost files or avoid its publication. Files can be altered or deleted 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, whereby the user is lured into interacting with by means of a social engineering technique called spear phishing. This makes the email message to appear to come from a familiar source. Another common attack vector is an improperly protected RDP port.
CryptoLocker ushered in the new age of ransomware in 2013, and the monetary losses caused by the many versions of ransomware is said to be billions of dollars annually, more than doubling every other year. Famous attacks include Locky, and Petya. Current headline threats like Ryuk, Sodinokibi and CryptoWall are more sophisticated and have caused more damage than earlier strains. Even if your backup processes permit your business to restore your encrypted files, you can still be hurt by so-called exfiltration, where stolen documents are exposed to the public (known as "doxxing"). Because additional versions of ransomware crop up daily, there is no guarantee that conventional signature-based anti-virus tools will block the latest attack. If an attack does show up in an email, it is critical that your users have been taught to identify phishing tricks. Your ultimate defense is a solid process for performing and retaining offsite backups plus the use of dependable recovery tools.
Contact Progent About the ProSight Ransomware Susceptibility Checkup in Toronto
For pricing information and to learn more about how Progent's ProSight Crypto-Ransomware Preparedness Assessment can bolster your defense against ransomware in Toronto, call Progent at
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