Our Services
We provide server patching, data loss protection, and so much more.
We've been in business since 2014, but our team's experience stretches back even farther than that. We're true IT professionals that care about our work. You'll be in great hands when you use us!
Data Classification
An IT security software tool that helps companies with security and compliance auditing. The company's Auditor solution helps information security and governance professionals manage sensitive, regulated and business-critical data. A Complete solution for Change Auditing, Data Classification, Compliance, and Data Security 24x5 Technical Support Easy Reporting. Real-Time Alerting.
Cyber Security Training
Security awareness training is a form of education that seeks to equip members of an organization with the information they need to protect themselves and their organization's assets from loss or harm. For the purposes of any security awareness training discussion, members of an organization include employees, temps, contractors, and anybody else who performs authorized functions online for an organization.
Patching
Ransomware now has a frightening new threat: preventing your ability to recover from backups. The most sinister trend we have seen in the last 18 months is the deletion of system backups. It does not matter whether the backups are in the cloud, on tape, or on spinning media; the hackers have gotten quite adept at targeting and destroying backups wherever they reside. When it comes to ransomware protection, you first want to keep the bad guys out. If that doesn’t work, you want to detect their activity and stop them before they can do much damage. And if that does not work, your fail-safe is to recover from backups.
“The adage is true that the security systems have to win every time, the attacker only has to win once.” — Dustin Dykes
Protect yourself and your company...
Pirate, Bandit, Raider, Thief… Hacker. As the times change so does the moniker, but the underlying concept is the same. You’ve got something valuable–maybe even only to you–and you’re willing to pay money to protect it or get it back if stolen. Early on, most hacking was done by "script kiddies" and mischievous teenagers more interested in pulling pranks or getting the recognition of their peers on a social media site. Today's hacking has gone pro. Most of it is criminal in nature, with bad guys looking for a financial gain one way or another. And one of the most common ways is ransomware, which steals and encrypts your data and asks for payment to release. It is the Internet “Wild Wild West” right now in terms of cybercrime and it’s every user’s responsibility to be aware of the dangers and to take steps to protect yourself and your company’s assets.
What is Ransomware? Ransomware can take different forms, but in its most basic part, criminals utilize it to threaten to release sensitive data until a ransom has been paid. In this manual, we want you to know what to expect BEFORE an attack happens. We discuss ransomware as PC, Mac, or mobile device-based malicious software that encrypts or steals a user or company’s data and login credentials and forces them to pay a fee to the hacker in order to regain access to their data or prevent the unauthorized release of confidential data and credentials. The hackers primarily use the following vectors to infect a machine: phishing emails, unpatched programs, password guessing, compromised vendors, poisoned online advertising and free software downloads.
Not only can ransomware encrypt or steal data and credentials on a single computer, but the software is also smart enough to travel across your environment and encrypt or steal data and credentials from any other computer located on the same network. This can lead to a catastrophic situation whereby one infected computer can bring a department or an entire organization to a halt. Imagine a law firm or accounting firm having all their client files encrypted or stolen. It is happening more and more. Once the files are encrypted and/or stolen, the hackers will display some sort of screen or webpage explaining how to pay to unlock the data or prevent the unauthorized release of data and credentials. Also, ransomware often has a one-week deadline which, once passed, causes the ransom to increase. Ransoms can start in the $300-$500 area, however, ransoms being paid in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars are no longer uncommon. Paying the ransom invariably involves paying a form of e-currency (cryptocurrency) like Bitcoin, abbreviated BTC. Once the hackers verify the payment, they provide “decryptor” software and/or decryption keys, and the computer starts the arduous process of decrypting all of the data and not releasing the copied data and credentials. In 2020, a Ransomware Infection is a Data Breach.
Some quick facts about Bitcoins:
• Bitcoin is commonly abbreviated as BTC, and is very difficult to trace.
• The price of Bitcoin is constantly fluctuating, sometimes by extreme amounts in a short time. In the beginning of 2016, 1 BTC was worth $400. In December 2017, it skyrocketed to just under $20,000, and as of May 2020 sits around $8,900 per bitcoin.
• You can buy partial Bitcoins. For example, you can buy 0.5 BTC (half of a Bitcoin). An individual Bitcoin can be split in up to many extremely small fractions.
• There will only ever be 21 Million Bitcoins in circulation once they are all available.
1. Am I Infected?
a. Symptoms
b. Infection Vectors
2. I’m Infected, Now What?
a. Disconnect!
b. Determine the Scope
c. What Strain of Ransomware?
d. Evaluate Your Responses: Restore, Decrypt, Do Nothing
3. Negotiate/Pay Ransom
a. First Response: Restore From Backup/Shadow Volume
b. Second Response: Try to Decrypt
c. Third Response: Do Nothing (Lose Files)
d. Fourth Response: Negotiate / Pay the Ransom
4. Protecting Yourself in the Future
a. Defense in Depth
b. Security Awareness Training
c. Simulated Attacks
d. Antivirus, Antispam, Firewalls
e. Backups
5. Resources
a. Ransomware Attack Response Checklist
b. Ransomware Prevention Checklist
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ABOVE TOPICS PLEASE CONTACT INFO@VP16.NET