How Parablu Helped a Customer Recover from Data Breach
In today’s digital world, cyberattacks are a harsh reality. We are all familiar with data breaches and the associated consequences.
So, are you prepared to fight data breaches? Do you have a robust data backup solution to bounce back from the chaos? Are you equipped to protect yourself from data loss? If not, then it’s high time you did! Let me tell you about an incident for reference.
Here’s a real-life incident that exemplifies the importance of data security.
What happened? Nature of the privacy breach and its detection
A severe data security breach occurred in March on their organization’s network. It targeted the Active Directory (AD) server as the home server.
For those needing to become more familiar with the term AD server, here is the answer: The AD server is a crucial component of a Windows network. This server manages user accounts, permissions, and authentication across various devices and resources.
Cybercriminals took control of their data and encrypted the files. As a result, the organization lost access to their files. Given the interconnected nature of the AD server, the breach might have also exposed other related servers. So, the company implemented proactive data security measures across the network to prevent infection. The security team was immediately alerted and started the incident recovery process.
How did it happen? Overview of the data breach
The data breach occurred at one of their stores, where constant data exchanges occur. The breach happened by injecting ransomware from an open source into one of their store’s servers. The staff couldn’t access their data which was encrypted and inaccessible.
Soon after the incident, cybercriminals sent instructions to pay a ransom if they wanted the decryption key. The cybercriminal left an email address for further discussion.
What was affected? Criticality of the infected data
The breach damaged our customers’ operations by attacking some of their stores. Their IT team informed us about the number of endpoints infected, which was approx. 250.
Among the data encrypted were sensitive customer information, business strategies, and confidential records. The consequences could have been severe because these attacks can cause significant financial and reputational harm. Protecting and recovering their data became our top priority.
What was done right? Proactive preventive measures for data breach detection
Our customer’s security team proactively responded to the data breach. They strengthened their security infrastructure with threat detection systems to avoid further data encryption. They followed the below-mentioned data security protocols:
Isolation of affected server
They immediately disconnected the compromised server from the network to reduce the spread of the breach.
Point-in-time restore
As part of the incident recovery process, they used the “point-in-time restore” feature of BluVault. BluVault allowed them to restore all files and data versions from before the day of the data breach. So, they recovered and resumed their operations by restoring the data until March.
Enhanced authentication
All user accounts were subjected to mandatory multi-factor authentication to protect access controls.
Incident response team activation
Security experts, IT professionals, and other teams worked proactively to respond to the ransomware attack.
Communication and transparency
Open communication was established among the employees to ensure transparency.
Contacted Parablu
After completing their initial incident recovery process, they contacted us for help. Our customer support team helped them to recover faster from the incident by restoring data.
Role of Parablu in the incident recovery
Our customer shared a list of files to recover. The list included zip files and text files named “butterfly.txt.” Using these file names, we checked the database and found that around 60 devices were affected. We let their IT team know about the infected files. Further, we guided them to locate and delete these files, preventing further infection on their devices.
Parablu customer support team assisted them in two ways:
- Finding the encrypted files and the number of affected devices.
- Guiding them in locating and removing the encrypted files. Thus, ensuring their devices stay safe from further infections.
Leveraging our BluVault solution ensured the efficient backup of critical data. This enabled us to navigate the road to data recovery with confidence. We successfully retrieved all the encrypted data through effective teamwork.
What now? Preventive measures against the data breach
To prevent future breaches of data, we recommended the following steps:
- Robust network security: Establish a strong firewall. Set up systems to continuously check for vulnerabilities and detect unusual activities.
- Avoid centralizing devices: Spread out devices across many servers instead of relying on a single AD server.
- Limit AD server exposure: To avoid potential threats, restrict the AD server from public access.
Implementing the above steps can answer questions like how to prevent data breaches effectively.
Testimonial – What the customer has to say:
“We backed up all our data using BluVault’s point-in-time recovery feature. The customer support team was supportive enough to make the process easy.”
The importance of data backup and recovery in today’s world
Data backup and recovery are essential in today’s digital world. Protecting information is vital, with vast amounts of data circulating and increasing privacy breaches. Backup solutions ensure data safety, recovery, and integrity during cyberattacks.
Prevent financial losses, preserve reputation, and ensure trust with reliable backup solutions and disaster recovery plans. This process is helping organizations thrive amidst uncertainties in our data-centric world.
This incident with our customer is a reminder that all companies should have robust data backup and recovery solutions in place. With suitable measures and a trusted partner like Parablu, you can protect your organization against cyberattacks.
Investing in top-notch data backup solutions like Parablu’s BluVault empowers your organization against any privacy breach. Above all, a dedicated customer support team is always there to help you.
Take control of your business today. Hand over your data security challenges to Parablu.
