Ransomware has become the most devastating cyber threat facing businesses of all sizes. The numbers are staggering: according to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a ransomware attack is $5.13 million, factoring in downtime, recovery costs, legal expenses, and reputational damage. The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report shows that ransomware is involved in 24 percent of all data breaches, and the frequency of attacks continues to accelerate. For small and medium-sized businesses in the Research Triangle, a successful ransomware attack can be an extinction-level event. The National Cyber Security Alliance reports that 60 percent of small businesses that suffer a cyberattack go out of business within six months.

Petronella Technology Group provides comprehensive ransomware protection and recovery services that address this threat from every angle. Our approach combines proactive prevention through our 39-layer ZeroHack Cyber Safety Stack, continuous detection through our AI agent Eve, rapid response when an attack is detected, and tested recovery procedures that get your business back online fast. We have helped organizations across the Triangle prevent, survive, and recover from ransomware attacks, and we bring that battle-tested experience to every client engagement.

The Modern Ransomware Threat

Today's ransomware attacks bear little resemblance to the simple encryption malware of a decade ago. Modern ransomware operations are run by professional criminal organizations that operate like businesses, complete with customer support, quality assurance, and affiliate programs.

Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS)

The ransomware economy is now dominated by RaaS platforms where sophisticated developers build the malware and infrastructure, then recruit affiliates to deploy it against targets. Groups like LockBit, BlackCat/ALPHV, and Royal have industrialized ransomware, making devastating attacks accessible to criminals with minimal technical skills. This has dramatically increased the volume of attacks and the range of victims targeted.

Double and Triple Extortion

Modern ransomware attacks no longer just encrypt your data. They steal it first. In double extortion attacks, the attacker threatens to publish your stolen data on the dark web if the ransom is not paid, even if you can recover from backups. Triple extortion adds a third layer, with the attacker contacting your customers, partners, or regulators directly to increase pressure. This evolution means that having good backups, while essential, is no longer sufficient as a complete ransomware defense.

Targeted Attacks

Ransomware groups increasingly conduct reconnaissance before attacking, identifying organizations that are most likely to pay large ransoms. Healthcare organizations, law firms, financial services companies, and manufacturers are particularly attractive targets because they handle sensitive data and face severe consequences from extended downtime. Triangle businesses in these sectors face elevated risk.

Our Ransomware Protection Services

Prevention: Stopping Ransomware Before It Starts

The best ransomware recovery is the one you never need. Our prevention services address the most common attack vectors:

• Advanced email security: Multi-layered email protection that blocks phishing emails, malicious attachments, and weaponized URLs, the primary delivery method for ransomware.
• Endpoint detection and response: Next-generation endpoint protection that detects and blocks ransomware behavior, including file encryption attempts, at the endpoint level.
• Vulnerability management: Regular scanning and patching to close the vulnerabilities that ransomware affiliates exploit for initial access.
• Multi-factor authentication: MFA across all critical systems to prevent credential-based access, the second most common initial access vector.
• Network segmentation: Proper network architecture that limits lateral movement, containing any potential breach to a small portion of your environment.
• Privileged access management: Controls that protect administrator accounts, which ransomware attackers target to gain the elevated permissions needed to deploy encryption across your network.
• Security awareness training: Regular training that teaches employees to recognize and report phishing attempts before they click.

Detection: Finding Ransomware Before It Detonates

Modern ransomware attacks involve a dwell period, typically days to weeks, between initial access and encryption deployment. This window provides an opportunity to detect and stop the attack before the ransomware payload is deployed. Our detection capabilities include:

• 24/7 monitoring by Eve: Our AI agent monitors your environment continuously, detecting the behavioral indicators that precede ransomware deployment, including credential harvesting, lateral movement, privilege escalation, and backup tampering.
• Network traffic analysis: Monitoring for command-and-control communications, data staging, and exfiltration activity that indicate an active intrusion.
• Endpoint behavioral analysis: Detection of suspicious process behavior, file system modifications, and other indicators of ransomware activity at the endpoint level.
• Dark web monitoring: Monitoring dark web forums and leak sites for mentions of your organization that could indicate a breach in progress.

Response: Acting Decisively When an Attack Is Detected

If ransomware is detected in your environment, our response team acts immediately:

• Isolate affected systems to prevent spread
• Identify the ransomware variant and assess scope
• Preserve forensic evidence for investigation
• Assess decryption options and recovery paths
• Communicate with your leadership, insurance carrier, and legal counsel
• Coordinate with law enforcement as appropriate

Recovery: Getting Your Business Back Online

Our recovery services are designed to restore your operations as quickly as possible:

• Backup restoration: We restore your data from clean, verified backups, prioritizing the most critical business systems.
• System rebuilding: We rebuild compromised systems from known-good images, ensuring that no attacker persistence mechanisms remain.
• Data integrity verification: We verify the integrity of recovered data before returning systems to production.
• Security hardening: We implement additional security controls to prevent re-infection, addressing the specific vulnerabilities that the attacker exploited.

Ransomware-Resilient Backup Strategy

Backups are your last line of defense against ransomware, but only if they are designed to survive a ransomware attack. Attackers specifically target backup systems during an attack, deleting or encrypting backup copies to eliminate recovery options. Our ransomware-resilient backup strategy includes:

• 3-2-1 backup rule: Three copies of data, on two different media types, with one copy stored offsite.
• Immutable backups: Backup copies that cannot be modified or deleted, even by an administrator account, protecting them from ransomware that has gained elevated privileges.
• Air-gapped storage: Backup copies stored on media that is physically or logically disconnected from your network.
• Regular testing: Frequent backup restoration tests that verify data recoverability and measure recovery time.
• Encryption: Backup data encrypted at rest and in transit to protect against exfiltration.

Ransomware Readiness Assessment

How prepared is your organization to survive a ransomware attack? Our ransomware readiness assessment evaluates your prevention, detection, response, and recovery capabilities against real-world ransomware attack scenarios. We identify gaps in your defenses and provide a prioritized remediation roadmap to improve your ransomware resilience. The assessment covers:

• Email security and phishing defenses
• Endpoint protection and detection capabilities
• Network segmentation and access controls
• Backup architecture and recoverability
• Incident response plan and team readiness
• Employee awareness and training effectiveness
• Privileged access management
• Vulnerability and patch management