Turning the Tide: How AKATI Sekurity Helped a Biotech Firm Recover from Ransomware

The Challenge

A leading biotech firm fell victim to a ransomware attack that severely disrupted its digital infrastructure and operational processes. The attackers:

🔴 Encrypted critical systems, demanding a Bitcoin ransom for decryption keys.
🔴 Caused widespread downtime, impacting key research and manufacturing operations.
🔴 Compromised sensitive data, raising concerns about data integrity and regulatory compliance.

Recognizing the severity of the breach, the firm engaged AKATI Sekurity to contain the attack, assess the extent of compromise, and lead the recovery process.

How AKATI Sekurity’s Digital Forensic Investigation Helped the Client

Tracing the Attack: Identifying "Patient Zero"

AKATI Sekurity’s incident response team traced the initial point of entry ("Patient Zero") to a compromised system exploited through:

🔹 Credential dumping & brute-force attacks, allowing attackers to infiltrate high-value assets.
🔹 Privilege escalation & lateral movement, enabling unauthorized access to critical servers.
🔹 Domain administrator credential theft, giving attackers full control over infrastructure.
🔹 Indicators of compromise (IoCs) linked to threat actors operating from Turkey, based on language settings and behavioral patterns.
🔹 Targeted attacks on NAS storage, virtual environments, and backup systems, raising concerns of potential data exfiltration.

Rapid Mitigation & Recovery

AKATI Sekurity immediately launched containment measures, preventing further damage and neutralizing active threats. Key actions included:

✔ Isolating infected systems to prevent further lateral movement.
✔ Analyzing attack artifacts to map out the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by the attackers.
✔ Deploying remediation strategies to clean compromised hosts and revoke stolen credentials.
✔ Implementing cybersecurity reinforcements to mitigate future risks and ensure business continuity.

Conclusion: Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against Future Attacks

Thanks to AKATI Sekurity’s swift forensic response, the biotech firm:

✔ Recovered critical business operations without paying the ransom.
✔ Neutralized security vulnerabilities that could have led to long-term infiltration.
✔ Strengthened cyber resilience, ensuring better threat detection and response capabilities.

Key Takeaway:

🔹 Early threat detection and a well-orchestrated response strategy are crucial in preventing cyber incidents from escalating into catastrophic breaches.

By leveraging AKATI Sekurity’s expertise in digital forensics and ransomware mitigation, the biotech firm successfully minimized downtime, safeguarded critical data, and reinforced its long-term cybersecurity posture.