What happened
A small plumbing business with three staff runs quotes and scheduling on one office PC. It was hit with ransomware: the screen locked and a message demanded Bitcoin.
What we did
- A technician was onsite within the day
- Identified the specific ransomware strain
- Isolated the machine so it couldn't spread to the other two PCs
- Restored everything from the business's cloud backup
- Full security audit: overdue Windows updates installed, firewall rules set up, and email filtering configured so the phishing attachment that started it can't reach an inbox again
The outcome
Everything was restored from the cloud backup, and the business is now on a support plan.
“We're on their support plan now. Non-negotiable after that scare.”
The lesson
A tested backup turns ransomware from a disaster into an inconvenience. Keep Windows updated and filter email attachments.