Ransomware Recovery In Cincinnati

The first and most crucial step in dealing with a ransomware attack is figuring out if your system is infected and what systems or files are affected. The sooner you detect ransomware in your system, the less data it may get a hold of. Today’s ransomware is built to be stealthy and may only be detected after it has encrypted all user files in a system.

It is never too late to run a scan to ensure the integrity of your files. A proactive cybersecurity solution should identify any anomalies in the system and processes that behave abnormally. It is important to have a reliable IT specialist that can help you establish the nature of the malware and mitigate the attack’s severity.

We’ve worked on IT issues from offering cloud-managed services to data recovery in Cincinnati for more than 25 years and have deep experience with various hardware and software applications. Our managed security services work keeps us on top of the latest cybersecurity threats and gives us the expertise necessary to recover data compromised by viruses and malware.

The sooner a ransomware attack is detected and contained, the higher the chance that you can recover your data before they are encrypted and rendered inaccessible. This may require having a robust disaster recovery or a system of data backup in place. If you have backups of the most important data, you will need to have your system cleaned, and security beefed up to prevent reinfection after backup restoration.

The 3-2-1 backup system is the best practice to secure your system from ransomware. When you have this backup system in place, recovering from a ransomware attack is much more effective.  This is a simple backup system with three guidelines:

1. Keep 3 copies of all important files. In the event a ransomware finds one, you already have two stored securely elsewhere.
2. Store backups on 2 different media types. For instance, you can keep one backup on a local drive and another in the cloud.
3. Maintain 1 copy of your backup off-site.

What should you do if you have no backups in the cloud or off-site? Sadly, there is no guarantee that a professional company can decrypt the files the ransomware has encrypted without paying off the attackers. However, you should make backups of the encrypted data because it may be possible to decrypt and recover them in the future

If you suspect or are already sure that you are a victim of ransomware, do not panic. Never expressly delete, remove, reimage, or format the affected systems and instead quarantine the affected systems. This will allow a recovery specialist to analyze the strain of the malware and analyze the infection holding the system hostage. A recovery team will need a sample of the malware or affected files to figure out ways to disarm it without paying off the criminals.

The process of ransomware recovery in Cincinnati often peaks at disassembling the malware responsible for the attack. A professional may need a memory dump of the quarantined system to understand the attack paths of the malware and even extract essential clues they can use to decrypt the files.

If you have not made any backups or all the backups are damaged or inaccessible and the recovery team fails to decrypt the affected files, you have a difficult decision to make. Attackers often demand high ransoms, but the FBI strongly advises against paying it. The reason is that there is no guarantee the criminals will provide a decryptor or that it will work. Besides, paying a ransom will substantiate the ransomware enterprise and will encourage further attacks.

Exhaust all potential avenues of recovery before considering paying the ransom. You should only weigh this option if your company could go out of business should you not recover the files held hostage. Even in such a case, partner with a professional cybersecurity company to guide you in making a decision that serves the business best.