Featured Cybersecurity Services |
case Study
Ransomware
Recovery
Law Firm Locked Out for 72 Hours
A 14-person law firm was hit by ransomware after an employee opened a phishing email. Within 72 hours, operations were restored without paying the ransom because immutable backups, EDR containment, and rapid incident response were already in place.
Without backups, this would have been a 6–8 week recovery with six-figure losses.
What Happened
- Industry: Legal
- Location: Pacific Northwest
- Size: 14 employees
- Environment: Hybrid (on-prem file server + Microsoft 365)
An employee received a spoofed Microsoft 365 password reset email.
They entered credentials into a fake login page.
Within 3 hours:
- Attacker gained admin access
- Lateral movement began
- File server encryption started overnigh
By morning, every case file was inaccessible.
Ransom demand: $148,000 in Bitcoin
Immediate Response
Bytagig’s SOC alerts triggered unusual login behavior and encryption patterns.
Actions taken within the first 2 hours:
- Isolated infected endpoints
- Disabled compromised accounts
- Blocked attacker IP ranges
- Activated incident response protocol
- Preserved forensic logs
Encryption was contained to one file server.
Recovery Plan
Because the firm had:
- Immutable offsite backups (air-gapped)
- Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR)
- MFA enforced
- Incident response playbook
Recovery timeline:
- Day 1: Threat neutralized
- Day 2: Backup integrity verified
- Day 3: Server restored from clean snapshot
- Day 4: Staff fully operational
No ransom paid.
No confirmed data exfiltration.
Financial Impact Avoided
Without preparation:
- Downtime cost: ~$12,000 per day
- Reputation risk: severe
- Possible bar compliance violations
Estimated avoided loss: $250,000–$400,000
What Changed After
- Phishing simulation training quarterly
- Conditional access policies
- Zero-trust network segmentation
- Dark web monitoring
Lessons for Law Firms
- Backups are useless unless they’re immutable.
- MFA alone is not enough.
- Fast detection is what stops six-figure damage.
- Incident response must be documented before you need it.
Strengthening Security Across Every Case Study
In today’s evolving digital landscape, cybersecurity is a core component of every solution we deliver. Whether we’re modernizing infrastructure, implementing cloud architecture, or streamlining operations, our approach ensures that security is built in from the start—not added later.
Explore how our cybersecurity expertise supports our clients across industries:
- Advanced threat detection integrated into enterprise workflows
- Incident response readiness woven into operational processes
- Compliance‑aligned security frameworks tailored to regulatory needs
- Risk assessments that expose vulnerabilities before attackers do
Learn more about our Cybersecurity Services ➡️
