Case Study

A Prominent Construction Organization Recovered Data from Server Infected with Malicious Makop Ransomware

Overview of Data Loss Episode

A prominent construction organization based in Hyderabad, faced a dire crisis when the malicious Makop Ransomware targeted their server. This cyberattack posed a severe threat to their financial data and essential business operations, casting a shadow over their operations and stability. The urgent need to secure their server and liberate it from the clutches of the malicious Makop Ransomware became a paramount concern, as the company grappled with the potentially devastating consequences of this digital assault.

Critical Challenges in Recovering Data

The ransomware attack unleashed on organization and was a multifaceted crisis that struck at the very heart of the company's operations. The assailants, utilizing the Makop Ransomware, swiftly encrypted all the vital billing backups, throwing the organization into a state of disarray. Sales records, order histories, and payment data were now locked behind an impenetrable digital fortress, rendering critical business functions paralyzed. This not only jeopardized the company's financial stability but also posed a significant threat to customer relationships, as the disruption in services and communication with clients could erode trust and credibility.

The internal recovery efforts faced by the organization proved to be a daunting task. The complexity of the ransomware's encryption algorithms and the attackers' tactics made it extremely challenging to decipher and unlock the compromised data. This situation required a level of expertise and technical acumen that the company's in-house IT team found to be beyond their capabilities. The intricacies of ransomware decryption and data recovery demanded a specialized skill set and an in-depth understanding of cyber threats, a domain that was not within their usual purview.

In this high-stakes scenario, the key challenge was not only safeguarding their day-to-day operations and financial data but also ensuring that customer relationships remained intact. The disruption to sales, order processing, and payment operations could lead to dissatisfied customers and, potentially, financial losses. Moreover, the ransomware attack brought with it a profound sense of vulnerability, raising concerns about the company's ability to protect sensitive customer information in the future. The perceived unreliability of negotiating with the attackers further complicated the situation, leaving the organization in a precarious position. The intricacies of navigating this crisis underscored the pressing need for a trusted and expert service provider capable of performing data recovery with precision, while also addressing the wider implications of the ransomware attack on their business continuity and customer relationships.

Despite the high level of encryption and corruption of data, Stellar's Data Recovery Experts Team successfully achieved a complete & intact data recovery solution. Corrupted databases was received from the customer on a physical hard disk. Our experts performed initial level of inspection to find out:

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Stellar Approach & Solution for Data Retrieval

Following a series of internal recovery efforts and unsuccessful negotiations with the attackers, the company turned to our team of experts to retrieve their critical data. Our experienced professionals embarked on the intricate task of addressing this highly complex ransomware incident. Through meticulous manual recovery procedures, the team successfully salvaged every MSSQL database file that had fallen victim to the attack. The comprehensive process of manual repair spanned over the course of a month, during which we painstakingly restored and repaired approximately 120 database files in the .MDF format.

Attempted Data Recovery Solution

After making few unsuccessful data recovery in-house attempts and due to non-availability of backup files, customer opted for professional data recovery services. Our experts performed manual database repair for corrupted databases and all important database files were recovered.

Step by Step process for Manual file Repair

Two level manual database repair service was performed in this case

Initial Inspection of corrupted database by Stellar Data Recovery Experts
Corrupted databases was received from the customer on a physical hard disk. Our experts performed initial level of inspection to find out:
a.   Level of corruption
b.   Possibility of manual repair
c.   Process to be followed for manual file repair
d.   Time estimation to perform manual repair

During the inspection of databases, experts found that databases are severely corrupted and repair via software (Stellar Repair for MS SQL) may not be sufficient. Team need to perform some manual repair to the tables containing data in corrupted database. This will increase the time required to retrieve the original data.
Manual Repair for corrupted database
Upon obtaining the customer's approval regarding time and the data recovery process, our team of experts initiated their work on the case. The corrupted database was securely mounted on a dedicated standalone machine, meticulously overseen by our seasoned database repair professionals. During the recovery process, many of the tables were successfully repaired, enabling the retrieval of the original data using our specialized software. Nevertheless, for certain critical tables where corruption levels were exceptionally severe, the software initially encountered limitations in reading and recovering the data. In response to these challenging scenarios, our experts adeptly customized the software, enabling the successful recovery of the data from corrupted tables.

Completion of Data Recovery

All possible recovery was performed by experts and recovered data was shown to customer for verification of data. After remote verification of data customer confirmed all original required data was recovered.

After confirmation from customer about data recovery, all recovered data was delivered to customer on external hard drive. The complete project was executed in about 28 days.