Network Help for Small Businesses

Ransomware Hot Line: 800-462-8800

24x7 Remote Access to a Senior Ransomware Engineer
Ransomware needs time to work its way across a target network. Because of this, ransomware attacks are commonly unleashed on weekends and at night, when support personnel are likely to be slower to recognize a breach and are less able to organize a quick and coordinated defense. The more lateral progress ransomware is able to manage within a victim's system, the longer it takes to restore basic IT services and scrambled files and the more data can be exfiltrated to the dark web.

Progent's Ransomware Hot Line is designed to help organizations to complete the time-critical first steps in mitigating a ransomware attack by stopping the bleeding. Progent's remote ransomware engineers can help businesses to identify and quarantine breached devices and protect clean resources from being penetrated.

If your system has been penetrated by any strain of ransomware, act fast. Get help quickly by calling Progent's 24x7 Ransomware Hot Line at 800-462-8800.

Progent's Ransomware Response Services
Current strains of ransomware like Ryuk, Maze, Netwalker, and Nephilim encrypt online files and infiltrate any accessible system restores and backups. Data synchronized to the cloud can also be corrupted. For a vulnerable environment, this can make automated recovery almost impossible and effectively throws the IT system back to square one. Threat Actors (TAs), the hackers responsible for ransomware attack, demand a settlement payment in exchange for the decryptors required to unlock scrambled data. Ransomware assaults also try to steal (or "exfiltrate") information and hackers require an extra payment in exchange for not posting this data or selling it. Even if you can restore your network to a tolerable date in time, exfiltration can pose a big problem depending on the nature of the downloaded information.

The restoration work after a ransomware attack involves several distinct stages, most of which can proceed in parallel if the response workgroup has enough people with the required experience.

• Quarantine: This time-critical initial response requires blocking the sideways progress of the attack within your network. The more time a ransomware attack is allowed to go unchecked, the longer and more expensive the recovery process. Recognizing this, Progent keeps a 24x7 Ransomware Hotline staffed by veteran ransomware response engineers. Quarantine activities include cutting off affected endpoints from the network to restrict the contagion, documenting the environment, and securing entry points.
• Operational continuity: This involves bringing back the IT system to a basic useful degree of functionality with the least downtime. This effort is usually the highest priority for the targets of the ransomware attack, who often see it as an existential issue for their business. This project also requires the widest array of IT skills that span domain controllers, DHCP servers, physical and virtual servers, PCs, notebooks and mobile phones, databases, office and line-of-business applications, network topology, and protected remote access. Progent's recovery team uses advanced collaboration platforms to organize the complex recovery effort. Progent understands the importance of working quickly, tirelessly, and in unison with a customer's management and network support staff to prioritize activity and to get essential resources back online as quickly as feasible.
• Data restoration: The effort necessary to restore data impacted by a ransomware assault varies according to the state of the systems, the number of files that are encrypted, and which restore techniques are needed. Ransomware assaults can take down pivotal databases which, if not gracefully shut down, may have to be reconstructed from the beginning. This can apply to DNS and Active Directory (AD) databases. Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server depend on Active Directory, and many manufacturing and other mission-critical platforms depend on Microsoft SQL Server. Often some detective work could be required to find clean data. For example, non-encrypted OST files may exist on staff PCs and laptops that were not connected during the ransomware assault. Progent's ProSight Data Protection Services offer Altaro VM Backup technology to protect against ransomware by leveraging Immutable Cloud Storage. This produces tamper-proof data that cannot be modified by anyone including administrators or root users.
• Implementing advanced antivirus/ransomware defense: Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring utilizes SentinelOne's machine learning technology to give small and medium-sized companies the advantages of the same AV tools implemented by some of the world's largest enterprises such as Walmart, Visa, and NASDAQ. By providing real-time malware filtering, detection, containment, recovery and forensics in one integrated platform, Progent's ASM reduces total cost of ownership, simplifies administration, and promotes rapid resumption of operations. SentinelOne's next-generation endpoint protection engine incorporated in ProSight Active Security Monitoring was listed by Gartner Group as the industry's "most visionary Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)." Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. Read about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware defense with SentinelOne technology.
• Negotiating a settlement with the hacker Progent is experienced in negotiating ransom settlements with threat actors. This requires working closely with the ransomware victim and the insurance provider, if there is one. Services consist of determining the kind of ransomware involved in the assault; identifying and making contact with the hacker; testing decryption tool; deciding on a settlement amount with the ransomware victim and the insurance carrier; establishing a settlement amount and schedule with the TA; confirming adherence to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations; overseeing the crypto-currency transfer to the hacker; acquiring, learning, and operating the decryptor tool; debugging decryption problems; building a clean environment; mapping and reconnecting drives to match exactly their pre-attack state; and reprovisioning physical and virtual devices and software services.
• Forensic analysis: This process is aimed at learning the ransomware assault's storyline throughout the network from beginning to end. This history of the way a ransomware assault progressed through the network assists your IT staff to assess the impact and brings to light gaps in policies or work habits that should be corrected to prevent later break-ins. Forensics involves the review of all logs, registry, Group Policy Object (GPO), Active Directory (AD), DNS servers, routers, firewalls, scheduled tasks, and basic Windows systems to look for variations. Forensic analysis is commonly assigned a high priority by the insurance carrier. Since forensic analysis can be time consuming, it is essential that other key recovery processes like business continuity are pursued concurrently. Progent has a large team of IT and data security experts with the skills required to carry out activities for containment, operational continuity, and data restoration without interfering with forensic analysis.

Download Datasheet: Progent's Ransomware Endpoint Detection and Response Services
To see a datasheet about Progent's ransomware endpoint detection and response services, click:
Progent's Progent's Ransomware Endpoint Detection and Response Services Datasheet. (PDF - 748 KB)

Contact Progent for Ransomware Recovery Consulting Services
For ransomware recovery expertise, call Progent at 800-462-8800 or go to Contact Progent.