WED2B Prevents Disruption from Ransomware Attack

Established in 2009, WED2B Limited runs a web storefront and network of retail stores specialising in dresses and accessories for brides and bridesmaids.

Offering designs for every style, shape and budget, the company operates more than 50 locations across the UK and Northern Europe and is planning further expansion.

Assured Data Protection Ltd backups all WED2B’s business critical data. It helps its customers benefit from the power of Rubrik, Inc. by providing technically and commercially viable solutions, for small and large data sizes, on-premises or in the cloud.

At 11 PM on a Friday evening, WED2B IT systems administrator Jamie Jeeves started receiving a barrage of email alerts warning that antivirus (AV) clients were crashing in the company’s central office. All prospects for a relaxing weekend vanished when Jeeves logged into the remote system to investigate the AV shutdowns.

While checking the network’s file share, Jeeves noticed a mass encryption of data was underway: “This is when I knew we were in trouble. We had just been hit with ransomware. All WED2B website files, including text, videos, and high-res images, were being encrypted. 8TB of critical NAS data had been initially encrypted, including the backups from a 3rd party system that used Azure to store backups.“

 Responding and Recovering Within 24 Hrs
He knew he had to act fast. In the retail business, time is money and downtime can be paralyzing for sales. He began by shutting down all servers and devices remotely. “Unfortunately, however, the remote software missed 2 machines, so I could not foil the attack completely.“

The next morning, working closely with Assured’s team, he started the recovery process. “We generate the bulk of our weekly sales on weekends. Needless to say, time was of the essence. I immediately disconnected the network from all store locations so they could continue operating independently without impact.

 “Leveraging Rubrik Zero Trust Data Security, I focused on our most critical assets first. I restored Active Directory through Rubrik in less than 30 minutes. I then moved onto SQL databases, which took only an hour to recover 1TB+ of data. I was pleasantly shocked at how quickly everything came back.“

By early Saturday afternoon, all critical systems were back online.

“There were essentially 2 recoveries taking place: one for data managed by Assured using Rubrik, and one for Azure backups. While our data on Rubrik was backup and running within 24 hours, it took weeks upon weeks to get NAS backup and running since it was not managed by Assured or protected by Rubrik. One of them was painless, and the other one was not.“

As a result of the fast recovery, WED2B has further increased its investment in Assured and Rubrik: “All of our data, including NAS, are now being protected by Rubrik‘s Zero Trust Data Security. We have upgraded to a newer version and are considering future investments because with Assured and Rubrik it just works.“

Business Outcomes
£0 paid in ransom: “To be honest, it never even occurred to me to pay the ransom demand because I was that confident in the Assured team and Rubrik‘s ransomware recovery capabilities.“

No data loss and 100% recovery from ransomware within 24 hours: “If we didn‘t have Rubrik as a managed service, not only would we have lost a lot of critical data, but we would also have had no way of getting that data back. We would‘ve had to either decrypt the data or start from scratch. I‘ve always had confidence in Rubrik‘s immutability. I never worried that the data on Rubrik would be reached on encrypted and was confident in the team at Assured‘s capabilities”

Zero impact to the business: “There was minimal, close to zero impact to the business because we were able to recover so quickly. There was no disruption to the WED2B website, and our bridal stores didn‘t even realise there was an issue. Everything was fixed before they noticed anything, I used to treat recovery with a laissez-faire attitude. The ransomware situation completely changed that. I cannot recommend Assured Data Protection and the Rubrik platform enough.“