May 19, 2016

Recover From Ransomware – Make Sure Your Backup Can Be Restored

Recently, Macron Dynamics in Croydon Bucks County was hit with a ransomware attack. The event was caused when an employee clicked on a malicious e-mail attachment. “The e-mail was from a familiar source, but the attachment caused a cyber-attack” according to Craig Marshall, Executive Vice President. The Company then received a ransom demand to release their files. “The amount was not outrageous but getting bit coins to pay the demand provided other challenges” according to Mr. Marshall.

Fortunately, not only was Macron Dynamics’s software frequently backed up to the cloud, but they had recently completed a test restore. Confident that their back up would get them up and running, they began the restore procedure and forgot about the ransom demand.

The business software (CRM, JobBOSS, and Quick Books) was functional by the end of the day. Because of the engineer-to-order foundation of the business, all engineering drawings were restored by the following day, losing only a half day of work. “Because of the frequency of our back-ups and the fact that we had test restored recently, we suffered only from the embarrassment that one of us clicked on the wrong attachment. We learned that the first line of defense in cyber security is making sure your employees are careful opening e-mails” said Marshall. “This episode ended OK for Macron because of the planning that we did with our third party managed services provider. Without that we would have been on the Internet searching for sources of bitcoins!”

For more information about cybersecurity please contact DVIRC at 215-464-8550 or use the contact form.