The client, a medium-sized company in the oil and gas sector in the United States, with significant annual gross revenue, was the victim of a ransomware attack that compromised critical data for its operation. The company operates in a highly strategic and competitive market, handling large volumes of sensitive and strategic information daily, including SQL Server databases and PDF repositories.
The ransomware attack directly affected approximately 2TB of the most important data, including essential SQL Server databases for daily operations and an extensive PDF repository containing contracts, financial reports, and legal documents.
The company did not have a prior Incident Response plan, which further complicated the situation during the crisis. The compromised infrastructure consisted of approximately 10 virtual machines (VHDXs), all infected and inaccessible.
The attack exploited critical vulnerabilities and resulted in the complete encryption of vital data. Investigations indicated that the attack was carried out by the RansomHub ransomware group, known for its sophisticated and targeted attacks: the group used advanced techniques to encrypt SQL Server databases and critical PDF documents, further complicating recovery without a predefined plan.
Due to the attack, the company became completely paralyzed, causing serious financial, operational, and strategic impacts. The downtime compromised the operational continuity of the company’s administrative and production departments, resulting in significant financial losses and creating an atmosphere of internal insecurity.
In addition to the immediate financial impact, the company faced great emotional tension. The IT management team was under intense pressure to quickly restore the systems while trying to understand the full extent of the damage caused.
Digital Recovery was called in to respond quickly to the incident, offering a precise technical approach focused on recovering the critical data directly from the original VHDXs affected by the ransomware.
The recovery was successfully carried out using specialized methodologies. Specifically, Digital Recovery performed a detailed recovery within the original affected VHDX files, fully restoring the essential virtual machines required for the company to resume its operations.
For the recovery of the PDFs, the technical team applied an additional RAW mode recovery, which allowed for the discovery of potentially hidden or partially compromised documents by the attack. This method was essential to ensure that no critical files were left behind.
As for the SQL Server databases, the process was challenging due to the extent of the damage caused by the ransomware encryption. However, close collaboration with a highly qualified DBA on the client’s side allowed for effective adjustments to the recovered databases, significantly accelerating the recovery and ensuring that the data returned intact and operational.
No special adaptations were needed in customer service, thanks to the professionalism of the internal team of the attacked company. Digital Recovery maintained direct and open communication with the client’s team, which facilitated cooperation throughout the entire process.
The presence of a qualified DBA within the company was a critical differentiator, allowing for the quick resolution of technical issues related to the recovered database, reducing operational downtime, and ensuring that important adjustments were made with precision.
Thanks to the specialized work of Digital Recovery, the entire recovery process took only a few days, from the start to the complete delivery of the restored data, ensuring that the client could quickly resume its critical operations.
The full recovery was successfully completed in less time than expected, leading to the complete operational restoration of the company in less than a week, a time significantly shorter than that of companies facing similar situations without a specialized team.
The company had been completely paralyzed at the start of the incident, but thanks to the specialized work of Digital Recovery, it was able to quickly resume its critical operations, especially with the efficient restoration of the databases and the PDF repository.
As a lesson from this incident, it became evident the importance of having a structured and regularly updated ransomware incident response plan. The lack of an initial plan ended up creating more challenges in the early phase of recovery.
Recover Ransomhub encrypted files with our expert data recovery service;
