Advanced Backup Solutions Delivers Complete Ransomware Recovery With Arcserve

One week before Christmas, a Boston‑area commercial real estate company experienced a catastrophic ransomware attack. Every workstation, server, and virtual machine across the environment was encrypted overnight.

The timing could not have been worse. Year‑end payroll processing and tax obligations were imminent, with significant financial penalties if deadlines were missed.

“They admitted they would be flat‑out out of business if they weren’t able to do payroll and their year‑end work,” according to ABS Founder and CTO, Josh Dube.

The Scope of the Holiday Ransomware Attack

The customer’s ransomware incident affected their entire IT environment:

• 120 employee workstations encrypted

• Approximately 6 TB of data at risk

• Four virtual machines encrypted

• Two hypervisor host servers encrypted

Cyber insurance requirements added further constraints. Infected systems had to be fully isolated from the network, and the original backup appliance was removed for forensic analysis. Rebuilding the production environment from scratch, ABS relied solely on verified backup data replicated to its own cloud infrastructure.

ABS leveraged Arcserve ShadowProtect to execute a structured, verified recovery process.

Using VirtualBoot, domain controllers were brought online within hours directly from backup images. Quick Mount provided immediate file‑level access to critical financial data, while HeadStart Restore enabled full system restoration in the background as users continued working—resulting in zero data loss across all recovery phases.

The ABS recovery strategy is built on continuous verification at multiple stages:

• Immediate verification after backup creation on local appliances

• Verification upon receipt in cloud infrastructure

• Weekly verification of complete backup chains

• Daily verification as backups arrive in the cloud

“Backups can be great, but if you can’t verify them on a consistent basis, they’re useless,” says Josh Dube, Founder and CTO of ABS.

This verification discipline ensured ABS had complete confidence in recoverability before the crisis occurred—eliminating uncertainty during an already high‑pressure situation.

The hybrid architecture, combining local backup appliances with cloud replication, proved critical. With 6 TB of data involved, a cloud‑only approach would have delayed recovery due to transfer times. Local appliances enabled immediate action.

ABS approaches data protection with a philosophy focused on reliability and predictability. “We look at our business like an insurance company,” says Dube. “You don’t want surprises. Stability is what delivers confidence when things go wrong.”

New capabilities are thoroughly tested before deployment to ensure they enhance resilience without introducing risk. This disciplined approach has defined ABS’s long‑standing partnership with Arcserve.

This recovery marked the third documented ABS–Arcserve collaboration over nearly two decades, demonstrating how proven technology and repeatable processes deliver results when ransomware threatens business viability.