The IT Nerd

The phone in my home office rang at 4AM this morning. It never rings at that time of the night. So half asleep, I had a look at the call display screen. The call was from India. Since I do have clients from India, I decided to answer it. The person on the other end was in a panic. They said that they got my number from someone who I had flown over there to help and that I came highly recommended.

If I wasn’t half asleep, I would have been flattered.

In any case, they explained their situation. One of their database servers was down. And it turned all their databases into .java files. That woke me up as I had a feeling I knew what was going on. I then requested to start a remote session using GoToAssist with the customer. Once I established the remote session, I started to poke around and I soon confirmed what I was thinking. They had been pwned by ransomware. The confirmation was this file that I found:

Basically, they had been pwned by a variant of the Dharma ransomware [Warning: PDF]. I say a variant because the version that I had previously seen encrypted things with a .Dharma extension. But according to this, the new variant that I was dealing with encrypted files with a .java extension. To make matters worse for the customer. He didn’t ever do backups of his databases, which were mission critical to his businesses.

#Fail. You should always backup your data. Especially if it’s mission critical.

The fortunate thing for this customer is that that there were ways to eliminate the files and possibly recover the data using file decryption software that was mentioned in the article. I then used the instructions to eradicate the virus by hand. I then confirmed that it was gone by scanning it with Trend Micro’s online scanner as the antivirus software that the server had wasn’t working. My next step was to use the file decryption software that was mentioned in the article to start encryption the databases. It took a while, but I was able to get them all back. I then was able to move them to a freshly built database server and make them accessible to the company.

Total time invested: 3.5 hours.

The thing is that this customer was VERY lucky. Ransomware attacks typically don’t have happy endings. The fact that it got in and it was able to do what it did indicates that they need a complete review of their IT security practices as clearly this ransomware was able to get in and pwn them. It could have been a human doing something dumb, or it could have come in via something like a PC that was exposed to the outside world. It could have even been a disgruntled employee. They also need to get into a backup regimen as the fact that they don’t backup mission critical data is a #fail. Thus I will be making arrangements to go there in a couple of months. But in meantime, I have some late nights and early mornings to look forward to as I plan on doing what I can from the other side of the planet.

Fun.

Data loss is every business’s nightmare. In fact, the majority of companies that do experience a mass disappearance of vital, computer-kept information never turn their lights on again.

About 60 percent of small businesses that lose data shut down within six months, according to a study released in 2017 by Clutch, a Washington, D.C.-based research firm. Another report, by Gartner, shows a sizeable impact on medium-sized companies as well; 51 percent of those that encounter a major data breakdown close down within two years.

Cyber security experts say those stark numbers underscore the importance of being prepared with adequate security measures. Many businesses are not, according to the Clutch study, including 58 percent of small businesses.

“It basically comes down to the idea that how you protect and treat your data is commensurate with how important you think it is,” says Penny Garbus, co-founder of Soaring Eagle Consulting Inc. (www.SoaringEagle.guru) and co-author of Mining New Gold – Managing your Business Data. “You protect your jewelry and money, but you aren’t protecting your data. If you aren’t, you’re putting your entire business at risk.”

Companies both large and small often try to ensure the security of their IT infrastructure by outsourcing to a third-party security vendor. A recent study on cloud security conducted by Forrester Consulting found that nearly 80 percent of participants saw value in outside security expertise. Garbus gives three main ways that managed security services can save a business from the disaster of data loss:

Security check-ups. These are essential for cyber security. “The question you must ask yourself is, how much downtime can my business afford,” Garbus says. “One of the best ways to prevent cyber security issues is to have an expert conduct regular health checks on your system. That way if there are any lurking vulnerabilities or potential issues, they can be fixed before causing any damage.”

•    Performance measures. This includes analysis of software, server, cloud and firewall  Business these days operates in the realm of remote servers, cloud computing and unrelenting security threats. “As the technological landscape evolves and data security has become increasingly important, businesses recognize there’s much more to it than handling issues as they arise,” Garbus says.

•    IT development updates. Hackers are becoming more sophisticated every day. For example, ransomware was able to stall private businesses, hospitals, universities, and government agencies. “If you’re handling sensitive data, it’s smart to upgrade the cyber security methods you’ve been using from the beginning of your business,” Garbus says. “Small and medium-size companies aren’t as likely to have a dedicated IT person to oversee the multiple systems, so it behooves them to have a service in place that can keep abreast of changing technology.”

“You might think managed security is mainly for big businesses, but you can certainly make a case that small-to-medium businesses benefit the most,” Garbus says. “In many ways, they have the most to lose.”

About Penny Garbus
Penny Garbus, co-founder of Soaring Eagle Consulting Inc. (www.SoaringEagle.guru), is co-author of Mining New Gold – Managing Your Business Data. She has been working in the data-management field since leaving college when she worked as a data entry clerk for Pitney Bowes Credit. She later ran the training and marketing department of Northern Lights Software.