Ransomware Recovery

Ransomware Recovery: Manufacturing Firm Restored in 6 Hours

August 24, 2026 · Manufacturing · Midwest

Engagement Snapshot

Client: Precision Manufacturing — Ohio (name anonymized)
Industry: Industrial Manufacturing
Attack: LockBit 3.0 Ransomware
Data Encrypted: 47 TB across 12 servers
Ransom Demand: $1.2M
Outcome: Full recovery in 6h 23m · $0 ransom paid · Zero data loss

The Incident

At 2:47 AM on a Tuesday, LockBit 3.0 detonated across the client's flat network. No segmentation. No immutable backups. No offline recovery plan. The attackers encrypted 47 TB of production data — CAD files, ERP databases, HMI/SCADA configurations, quality records — across 12 servers in under 40 minutes.

The client had Veeam backups on the same network segment. The ransomware found and encrypted those too. They were facing a $1.2M ransom demand with no viable recovery path.

What We Did

Isolated & triaged within 15 minutes of engagement — pulled network cables, preserved forensic images
Located offline gold copies — discovered air-gapped tape archives from a legacy DR policy nobody had touched in 3 years
Built clean recovery environment — provisioned isolated VLAN, hardened Windows/Linux templates, deployed AEGIS-SIGMA immutable backup architecture
Staged parallel restores — prioritized ERP → CAD → SCADA → quality systems, validated each before cutover
Cut over production at 6h 23m mark — zero data loss, zero ransom paid

Before vs After

Security Score	38	92
Backup Immutability	✗	✓
Network Segmentation	✗	✓
Recovery Time Objective	Unknown	6.4 hours
Offline Recovery Copies	0	3 tiers
Ransom Exposure	$1.2M	$0

Key Takeaways

    Flat networks are a force multiplier for ransomware. One compromised host = entire environment encrypted. Segmentation isn't optional — it's the difference between 6-hour recovery and 6-figure ransom.
  

    Backups on the same network aren't backups. They're just more targets. The only backups that survived were the forgotten tapes in a closet. Immutable, offline, tested — that's the standard.
  

    RTO is a design decision, not a hope. This client now has a 4-hour RTO guarantee backed by architecture, not wishful thinking.
  

FAQ

Did you negotiate with the attackers?

No. Never. We don't negotiate with criminals. The recovery architecture made negotiation unnecessary.

How did you recover the Veeam backups that were encrypted?

We didn't. They were gone. The recovery came from the air-gapped tape tier that predated the Veeam deployment. That's why tiered, offline backups matter.

Can you do this for my factory?

Yes. The same immutable backup architecture, network segmentation, and recovery runbooks are deployable for any OT/IT environment. Start a trial or contact us.

Don't wait for 2:47 AM

The best time to build immutable backups and network segmentation was before the attack. The second best time is now.

Deploy Ransomware-Proof Architecture