Incident Response & Digital Forensics

Ransomware Recovery Consulting

  • May 8, 2025
  • 0

Sherlocked Security – Ransomware Recovery Consulting

End-to-End Support for Containment, Recovery, Decryption, and Resilience After a Ransomware Attack

1. Statement of Work (SOW)

Service Name: Ransomware Recovery Consulting
Client Type: Enterprises, Critical Infrastructure, SMEs, Healthcare, Municipalities
Service Model: Incident Response + Recovery Planning + Threat Intelligence-Driven Negotiation (if applicable)
Compliance Coverage: NIST 800-61, ISO 27035, HIPAA, GDPR, DFARS, PCI-DSS

Engagement Types:

  • Live Ransomware Incident Handling
  • Recovery Planning & Infrastructure Rebuilding
  • Forensic Analysis & Threat Attribution
  • Ransom Note, Sample, and C2 Analysis
  • Negotiation Support (via vetted third-parties)

2. Our Approach

[Initial Containment & Threat Triage] → [Forensic & Malware Analysis] → [Data Recovery Strategy] → [Ransomware Negotiation (if needed)] → [Infrastructure Rebuild] → [Future Hardening & Resilience]

3. Methodology

[Asset Isolation] → [IOC Extraction & Kill Chain Mapping] → [Offline Backup Analysis] → [Decryption Path Evaluation] → [Forensic Validation] → [System Re-imaging or Restore] → [Resilience Engineering & Final Report]

4. Deliverables to the Client

  1. Ransomware Incident Timeline Report
  2. Forensic Analysis (Initial Infection, Lateral Movement, Impact)
  3. Indicators of Compromise (IOCs): IPs, Hashes, Ransom Note Artifacts
  4. Known Ransomware Family Attribution
  5. Status of Offline/Cloud Backup Integrity
  6. Decryption Options Assessment
  7. Recovery & Rebuild Playbook
  8. Threat Intelligence Brief (Ransomware Family, Group TTPs)
  9. Final Executive and Technical Report
  10. Optional: Negotiation Support via Trusted Partner

5. What We Need from You (Client Requirements)

  • Description of incident and initial point of contact
  • List of affected systems (hosts, servers, storage, cloud)
  • Access to ransom notes, encrypted files, and malware samples
  • Backup inventory and retention strategy
  • Logs and telemetry (EDR, firewall, VPN, AD, Sysmon, etc.)
  • NDA and incident response authorization

6. Tools & Technology Stack

  • Forensic Tools: FTK Imager, Autopsy, KAPE, Volatility, Sleuth Kit
  • Static/Dynamic Malware Analysis: IDA Pro, Ghidra, Cuckoo, CAPEv2
  • Ransomware Detection: SentinelOne DFIR, Raccine, Bitdefender Labs
  • IOC & Threat Intel: MISP, MalwareBazaar, VirusTotal, YARA
  • Backup Tools: Veeam, Rubrik, Acronis, ZFS snapshots
  • Network Recovery: Zeek, Wireshark, Suricata, Firewall Logs
  • Log Correlation: ELK Stack, Timesketch, Velociraptor

7. Engagement Lifecycle

1. Emergency Intake & Triage → 2. Host and Network Isolation → 3. Forensic & Malware Analysis → 4. Backup Integrity Review → 5. Decryption or Rebuild Strategy → 6. Infrastructure Recovery → 7. Final Report & Resilience Advisory

8. Why Sherlocked Security?

Feature Sherlocked Advantage
End-to-End Ransomware Expertise From initial triage to full rebuild and lessons learned
Live Incident Handling Available for active breach containment within SLA windows
Forensic + Threat Intel Fusion Behavioral, cryptographic, and actor-level analysis in one team
Backup Validation & Decryption Options for recovery with or without ransom payment
Legal & Compliance Alignment Evidence preservation, audit trails, and regulatory alignment

9. Real-World Case Studies

Hospital Group: Hive Ransomware Lockdown

Incident: All EHR and imaging systems encrypted within 40 minutes.
Action: Performed memory and disk analysis, identified dropped EXE loader, traced C2 domain.
Outcome: Restored from immutable backups, hardened AD with new tiering model. No ransom paid.

Logistics Firm: Data Exfil + Lock (BlackCat/ALPHV)

Incident: Dual-stage attack—first exfiltration, then ransomware deployment.
Findings: SFTP used for data theft, Windows Domain Controllers encrypted next day.
Outcome: Negotiation handled externally, partial decryption keys recovered. Mapped attacker TTPs to MITRE framework.

10. SOP – Standard Operating Procedure

  1. Emergency Call and Incident Triage
  2. Asset Quarantine and Network Isolation
  3. Sample Collection (Ransom Note, Malware, Encrypted Files)
  4. IOC Extraction and Threat Intelligence Enrichment
  5. Host Memory and Disk Forensics
  6. Backup Validation and Offline Access Testing
  7. Identify Ransomware Family and Known Decryptors
  8. Evaluate Negotiation (via third-party) if applicable
  9. Recover via Backup or Decryption Tools
  10. Hardened Infrastructure Rebuild & Secure Configuration Review
  11. Final Report + Lessons Learned Workshop

11. Ransomware Recovery Technical Checklist

1. Containment & Quarantine

  • Disconnect infected machines from all networks immediately
  • Disable shared drives, RDP access, and VPN access
  • Verify containment at firewall, VLAN, and cloud network levels
  • Isolate backup systems and verify they are untouched

2. Forensic Imaging & Artifact Collection

  • Acquire disk and memory images from key infected hosts
  • Capture ransom notes, encrypted files, dropped payloads
  • Preserve logs: Windows Event Logs, Sysmon, firewall, EDR alerts
  • Take snapshots of process trees, network connections, autoruns

3. Malware & Ransomware Analysis

  • Identify ransomware strain (e.g., LockBit, BlackCat, Phobos)
  • Analyze static binary: encryption method, config, mutex, ransom note structure
  • Run dynamic analysis in sandbox (CAPE/Cuckoo)
  • Map behavior to MITRE ATT&CK (T1059.003, T1486, T1047, etc.)
  • Check for known decryptors (NoMoreRansom.org, Emsisoft tools)

4. Backup and Recovery Assessment

  • Identify:
    • Available snapshots (ZFS, Veeam, Rubrik, Windows Shadow Copies)
    • Cloud or cold storage backups (AWS Glacier, Azure Vault, etc.)
  • Test backup restoration integrity
  • Ensure backups were not encrypted or deleted by malware
  • Prioritize restore order: domain controllers → file servers → endpoints

5. IOC Extraction and Threat Mapping

  • Hashes of encrypted files and binaries
  • Ransom note content (email, TOR site, negotiation ID)
  • Persistence mechanisms (registry keys, scheduled tasks, services)
  • Identify lateral movement (RDP, PSExec, WMI) and privilege escalation artifacts
  • Log-in anomalies and VPN usage from logs

6. Rebuild & Resilience Hardening

  • Clean OS installs or gold image redeployments
  • Reset all user and admin credentials (on-prem and cloud)
  • Disable/replace compromised service accounts
  • Reconfigure GPOs, firewall rules, segmentation policies
  • Deploy EDR with ransomware-specific heuristics
  • Configure immutable backups and MFA on backup consoles

7. Final Reporting & Advisory

  • Document:
    • Attack timeline
    • Initial access vector
    • Encryption coverage
    • Decryption feasibility
    • Recovery path taken
  • Provide:
    • Executive summary
    • IOC list
    • Threat actor attribution
    • Compliance recommendations
    • Resilience playbook
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