Cyber-Security Solution for Estate Agency Hit By Ransomware

This Reading-based estate agency was comfortable with their inherited IT solutions; everything was working, so there was little reason for them to invest in anything new. But when they suffered a ransomware attack that encrypted their company data and left them unable to operate, they learned the importance of IT systems and keeping them up to date.

Better-IT was able to recover the critical data within 4 business hours, upgraded all their PC’s, migrated their data to Microsoft 365, and installed multi-layer security protection.

More importantly, the performance of the new computers and cloud services have enabled the agency to see a marked improvement on their business as they can work more productively.

The Full Story

When the new owners purchased their estate agency franchise near Reading, they inherited IT systems that appeared to do the job just fine. Like many business owners, they needed to keep a watchful eye on company expenditures and be selective on when they spent.

As the current systems were working it was difficult for the lettings agency to rationalise spending more money on IT; it was an additional company overhead and would be difficult to prove an immediate return on investment. And they never imagined that they’d be the target of a cybercrime.

But the unthinkable did happen, and they suffered a devastating ransomware attack that encrypted all their company data. Initially they were unable to understand what had happened; what was happening? Why couldn’t they pay their landlords as they usually did? Their ability to function was paralysed while their data was held for ransom.

The agency sought the help of Better-IT, who went in immediately to act against the ransomware attack. Better-IT first worked to remove the infection from the network. They had an old type of backup system, initially installed in November 2014, that was still running, so were able to recover the most critical data. This data was then migrated to the much more secure Microsoft 365 cloud computing system as well as an onsite backup at Better-IT.

As today’s technologies are unable to support hardware that has become too old, all the estate & lettings agency’s computers were immediately upgraded to new computers. The faster CPUs, hard drives, processors, and operating systems offered the team an immediate improvement in productivity through the faster processing of work.

The Results

Within 5 working days, Better-IT was able to recover the estate agency’s data and get them back up and running at full capacity. More importantly, the performance of the new computers and cloud services have enabled the estate agency to see a marked improvement on their business as they can work more productively.

The team has enjoyed an astonishing update on the speed of their technology. The combination of new hardware, a full cloud working environment, and secure backups offsite ensure that they can share information within their team in record time. Now their company data and listing information can be securely accessed from anywhere, on any device, at any time.

More importantly, the estate office’s IT infrastructure and network is now better protected. Should they ever be victim of a cybercrime attack in the future, they have peace of mind in knowing that the interruption to business will be minimal, as Better-IT will be able to resolve the issue within minutes.

If you fear that your IT systems are out of date, or your network at risk of a breach like what this Reading-based estate agency experienced, book a free call with one of our senior technical advisors. We can conduct a free risk assessment on your current IT systems and provide a roadmap for increased productivity in the future.