Case Studies Evading Ransomware During Tax Season with Datto

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	Evading Ransomware During Tax Season with Datto

Evading Ransomware During Tax Season with Datto

Technology Category	Cybersecurity & Privacy - Malware Protection Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Backup & Recovery Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services
Applicable Industries	Automotive Finance & Insurance Healthcare & Hospitals
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Quality Assurance
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Cybersecurity Services System Integration
Challenge	Recently, CMG’s largest customer, an accounting firm, had a run in with ransomware during the worst possible time: tax season. Prior to the attack, CMG had moved the firm over from tape backup to the Datto SIRIS, a total data protection platform designed to deliver fast, automated backups and quick recovery times. Chris Guertin, owner of CMG, described a seamless transition over to the SIRIS and was able to back up all eight servers. As it turned out, Guertin had done so in the nick of time. When an employee clicked a link on a social media platform, suspicious activity began to occur, as users were being locked out of files. The ransomware virus did not trigger the firewall in place and the virus began encrypting all shared files on the accounting firm’s servers. Read More
About Customer	CMG Computing Services has been serving small businesses in North Bay, Ontario since 1984. As a full service managed service provider (MSP), CMG operates as the remote IT department for their clients from an array of verticals including healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and automotive. While their clients may be very diverse, each face a common threat when it comes to data security: ransomware. CMG’s largest customer is an accounting firm that recently faced a ransomware attack during tax season. CMG had previously transitioned the firm from tape backup to the Datto SIRIS platform, ensuring fast, automated backups and quick recovery times. Read More
Solution	Guertin was onsite within thirty minutes of the call. He quickly located the workstation that was the source of the attack and shut it down. Using the SIRIS, he then began to restore data locally to the file server that was attacked via the infected workstation. Through Datto’s Advanced Storage technology, the SIRIS automatically takes hourly snapshots of the data, which meant that Guertin was able to bring the systems back to the state they were in forty minutes prior to the attacks. Had the firm still been relying on tape backup, Guertin estimates his client would have lost half a day’s work (through data loss) because the most recent backup would have taken place a day prior. In total, it took about eight hours to restore all of data due to the sheer volume that had been infected, and none of their most recent work had been lost thanks to the frequent backups. In the end, the customer was pleased with the seamless restore and the lack of data loss. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Malware Protection

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Backup & Recovery

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Finance & Insurance

Healthcare & Hospitals

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Quality Assurance

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Cybersecurity Services

System Integration

Challenge

Recently, CMG’s largest customer, an accounting firm, had a run in with ransomware during the worst possible time: tax season. Prior to the attack, CMG had moved the firm over from tape backup to the Datto SIRIS, a total data protection platform designed to deliver fast, automated backups and quick recovery times. Chris Guertin, owner of CMG, described a seamless transition over to the SIRIS and was able to back up all eight servers. As it turned out, Guertin had done so in the nick of time. When an employee clicked a link on a social media platform, suspicious activity began to occur, as users were being locked out of files. The ransomware virus did not trigger the firewall in place and the virus began encrypting all shared files on the accounting firm’s servers.

About Customer

CMG Computing Services has been serving small businesses in North Bay, Ontario since 1984. As a full service managed service provider (MSP), CMG operates as the remote IT department for their clients from an array of verticals including healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and automotive. While their clients may be very diverse, each face a common threat when it comes to data security: ransomware. CMG’s largest customer is an accounting firm that recently faced a ransomware attack during tax season. CMG had previously transitioned the firm from tape backup to the Datto SIRIS platform, ensuring fast, automated backups and quick recovery times.

Solution

Guertin was onsite within thirty minutes of the call. He quickly located the workstation that was the source of the attack and shut it down. Using the SIRIS, he then began to restore data locally to the file server that was attacked via the infected workstation. Through Datto’s Advanced Storage technology, the SIRIS automatically takes hourly snapshots of the data, which meant that Guertin was able to bring the systems back to the state they were in forty minutes prior to the attacks. Had the firm still been relying on tape backup, Guertin estimates his client would have lost half a day’s work (through data loss) because the most recent backup would have taken place a day prior. In total, it took about eight hours to restore all of data due to the sheer volume that had been infected, and none of their most recent work had been lost thanks to the frequent backups. In the end, the customer was pleased with the seamless restore and the lack of data loss.

Impact #1	Guertin was able to quickly identify and shut down the source of the ransomware attack.
Impact #2	The SIRIS platform allowed for a seamless and quick data restoration process.
Impact #3	The accounting firm experienced no data loss due to the frequent backups provided by Datto SIRIS.

Impact #1

Guertin was able to quickly identify and shut down the source of the ransomware attack.

Impact #2

The SIRIS platform allowed for a seamless and quick data restoration process.

Impact #3

The accounting firm experienced no data loss due to the frequent backups provided by Datto SIRIS.

Benefit #1	Restoration of data to the state it was in 40 minutes prior to the attack.
Benefit #2	Estimated prevention of half a day’s work loss due to the switch from tape backup to Datto SIRIS.

Benefit #1

Restoration of data to the state it was in 40 minutes prior to the attack.

Benefit #2

Estimated prevention of half a day’s work loss due to the switch from tape backup to Datto SIRIS.

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Overview

Evading Ransomware During Tax Season with Datto

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit