Background
In 2023, a mid-sized technology Company in Southern Ontario approached BSC Solutions Group. The Company had an internal IT team but wanted to explore ways to strengthen their security posture with additional layers of protection. After discussions, they opted for a Datto backup solution. While the company understood there are more preventative security options available, they decided to start small and went only with the Datto solution.
Datto is a data backup and disaster recovery service. It creates secure copies of data to protect organizations from data loss in the event of cyberattacks, hardware failures, or natural disasters.
The Incident
Fast forward to spring 2025: the Company suffered a major cybersecurity breach. Bad actors infiltrated their network, changed all passwords, and locked the organization out of its systems—including email and cloud services. The Company could no longer access its own data.
They had been hit with a ransomware attack.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that locks or encrypts your files and demands payment (a ransom) to restore access. It’s one of the most common and costly cyberattacks, and can completely halt business operations until resolved.
Immediate Response
Before the Company’s internal IT team received a ransom demand, they were able to sever the attackers connection to the network and prevent further damage. But major damage had already been done.
As BSC had helped them with Datto in the past, the Company got in touch to help figure out next steps.
The first steps were to install some of the cybersecurity tools that the Company had opted out of back in 2023 to monitor their devices for lingering malware. Had these Threat Hunting and Managed Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools been implemented before the breach, there is a good change they would have shut down the suspicious activity before it became a breach.
BSC then connected the Company with a team of consultants who specialize in this type of cyberattack and disaster recovery. Using their expertise in this area, the consulting team worked with BSC to meticulously go through the Company’s systems to remove compromised accounts, reinstall critical software, and retrieve the encrypted backup data.
Had the Company not had Datto backups, the data loss would have been total.
The road to recovery was long and costly
Every step required specialized expertise and time. While the company avoided total data loss thanks to backups, the indirect costs were staggering:
- Weeks of operational disruption
- Lost productivity across all departments
- Months of emergency IT consulting fees
Luckily, the Company avoided reputational damage in this instance because they were able to get back up and running. But had they irretrievably lost all their data or if the downtime had gone on much longer, they may not have been able to fulfill their existing contracts.
Key Lessons
Backups Alone Aren’t Enough
A backup solution is critical, but it doesn’t prevent an attack—it only helps recover afterward.
Layered Security is Essential
Tools like endpoint detection, multi-factor authentication, and continuous monitoring dramatically reduce risk.
The Real Cost is Downtime
For many businesses, the biggest financial hit isn’t the ransom—it’s the lost revenue and recovery expenses. And the cost of preventative measures is a fraction of the cost of recovery.
Paying the Ransom
It may sound like, “it would have been cheaper to just pay the ransom”. But even if a breached company pays out a ransom, much of the post-breach recovery and security upgrades still has to occur. The expenses would just include a payment to the bad actors in addition to everything else.
At BSC Solutions Group we view every situation through a cybersecurity lens and have tools in place to detect and stop attacks before they cause damage. If you would like more information about how our cybersecurity services can help your business reduce risk, contact us today.