Stopping Akira Ransomware in 20 Minutes
See how At-Bay’s MDR team detected and stopped Akira ransomware in 20 minutes, preventing encryption, downtime, and ransom payment
The Threat
At 1:00 AM on a Saturday morning, threat actors exploited a SonicWall VPN vulnerability, attempting to deploy Akira ransomware. The attackers moved with exceptional speed — achieving lateral movement in under 5 minutes from initial exploitation.
Remediation Process
Our Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team detected the intrusion within 10 minutes and took immediate action:
- 20 minutes: Systems quarantined and attacker access blocked
- <1 hour: Attacker tooling fully removed, systems restored to healthy state
Working in lockstep with our client, we restricted access to the compromised VPN, reset credentials, and applied critical patches before the threat actors could complete reconnaissance or stage their ransomware payload.
It look less than 20 minutes* from initial attack to fully contain and kick the attacker out.
The Result
By stopping the attack before ransomware deployment, we prevented what could have been a catastrophic business disruption. Our client avoided:
- Ransomware encryption and data loss
- Extended downtime and recovery costs
- Potential ransom payment
Most importantly, they emerged from the incident more resilient with patched systems, hardened credentials, and confidence in their security posture.
At-Bay Stance Managed Detection and Response
At-Bay Stance MDR protects your organization against modern threats like ransomware, financial fraud, phishing, and identity-based attacks with comprehensive endpoint, cloud, email, and identity security solutions.
At-Bay’s MDR experts help businesses stay secure and reduce cyber risk at a fraction of the cost and hassle of hiring an in-house team. It provides a layer of protection many businesses typically can’t afford, securing endpoints, email, identity, and cloud, at an accessible price.
*Response timelines differ. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. This content is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to define any Policy commitment. No warranty is given or liability accepted regarding this information.
At-Bay Stance MDR is provided by At-Bay Security, LLC (“At-Bay Security”), and available to eligible businesses with or without an insurance policy placed through At-Bay Insurance Services, LLC. At-Bay Security, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of At-Bay, Inc., providing cybersecurity services including MDR and incident response. At-Bay Security, LLC does not provide insurance services.