We have yet another client affected by a variant of the CryptoLocker and Ransomware viruses. This client has 100 employees across multiple locations. They were severely impacted and could have suffered major data losses.
CryptoLocker viruses lock your files and programs. The virus stops you from accessing your files and then demands you pay a ransom to unlock them. This latest virus appeared to have been sent from Australia Post.
The correct backup plan is becoming critical for businesses. The offsite backup of your data must be in a different location and on a different network to your actual data. If it is not, the virus is capable of affecting your backups as well as your actual data. This can potentially make recovering your data impossible and/or extremely expensive to attempt to recover. Recovery attempts in this scenario can have major outage impacts for businesses ranging from days to weeks.
Correct use of real-time mail, spam and virus filtering, alongside real-time SPI (Statefull Packet Inspection) of all data passing through the internet to your network, can also help mitigate a virus threat attacking your business.
This client was “lucky”, we worked through the night to remove the virus, which had affected 10’s of 1000’s of files in a short period of time. We managed to stop the virus from spreading any further and recover their data through our diligent backup maintenance.
Although the client lost time and a small amount of data, we were still able to remove the virus from their system and restore their data from backups that were stored in a different location. Without this setup, they would have lost more than just 12hrs of time, they would have lost every file and program required to run their business, unless they paid the ransom.
These viruses are extremely difficult for virus scanners to pick up and can get through sophisticated systems, which is why it’s even more important for you to have the correct backup management plan in place for your business.
If you would like to know more about how to secure your data or are concerned that you may have received a virus, please do not hesitate to contact us.