One law firm in New York is thanking its lucky stars it was under the protective banner of CompCiti Business Solutions, Inc. A couple of months ago, it was the target of a ransomware attack in which a hacker locked up all the company files and demanded thousands of dollars. But CompCiti was able to quickly get the firm back online after the attack.
You could say that CompCiti was their “knight in shining armor.” CompCiti’s IT consultants came in and within a matter of hours, all systems were all back up and running. The firm didn’t lose any data at all.
“It is every company’s worse nightmare,” said Sam Vohra, CompCiti’s co-founder and Vice President. “We rely so much on our computer systems and the Internet, and we put security measures in place to protect them. But all it takes is for one person in the company to get duped into opening a malicious email, and your whole company is at risk.”
The Wall Street Journal noted in a report last year that ransomware is a “growing threat” to businesses in the U.S. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/ransomware-a-growing-threat-to-small-businesses-1429127403) The article stated that in nine months during 2014/2015 there were 2,275 ransomware complaints to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, amounting to $1.1 million in lost ransom. But the reported incidents are likely the tip of the tail of a much larger dragon – an under-reported dragon that keeps growing every year.
Often, once a company is targeted, the cybercriminals don’t just take the money and leave.
“This particular company was attacked more than once,” Vohra said. “One computer would get infected, and then before they knew it, their whole network would be infected. Normally, it would just be a big mess. But we were able to get rid of the ransomware and recover everything. We didn’t even have to go to the last day’s backup, where they would have lost the entire day.”
Vohra wouldn’t go into details about exactly how they were able to repel the cyber-attack. But he did say that the firm – who did not want to be identified for security reasons – has been a client for years. It was a result of their normal maintenance program that CompCiti was so easily able to unlock the company’s files without paying the ransom or losing any data.
It’s a service that it offers all of its clients, potentially saving them thousands of dollars per year in ransom payments. And, if the cybercriminals decide not to unlock your files after paying the ransom as often happens, you’re stuck anyway with the long, arduous, and sometimes-expensive process of recovering your data on top of the money you paid out.
“If you can’t unlock your files, the ransom is likely the least of your costs. Scrubbing your computers, restoring data, replacing data that can’t be restored, lost business. lost credibility with your customers – those are the real expenses,” Vohra said.
CompCiti offers a number of services to help companies lower the risks including server maintenance, cyber-security, backup systems, disaster recovery plans, cloud services, and network services. Find out more at https://compciti.com/services/
About CompCiti
CompCiti Business Solutions Inc. provides clients what few other IT companies in New York can: expertise and insights developed since business networking began. CompCiti creates and maintains high-quality network, IT, and Cloud systems to ensure reliability and efficiency – all delivered with unsurpassed customer service. CompCiti now offers VoIP installation for inexpensive phone solutions. CompCiti is a Microsoft Silver Certified Partner. Installations, maintenance, and 24/7 emergency service since 1996. We’re Working When You Are. CompCiti.com
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
