1. Immediate Containment
First call, we move to stop the spread — isolate affected systems, cut the attacker's access, and protect what is still clean. Speed here decides how much survives, which is why the emergency line is answered, not queued.
Ransomware Recovery & Emergency IT Support
Systems locked? Files renamed and a ransom note on the screen? Server down, email dark, or a breach in progress? Stop and call — (831) 204-0501. Ghosxt provides rapid ransomware recovery and emergency IT for Central Coast businesses, led by a cleared DoD IT engineer. The faster we can contain it, the more we save. Do not power-cycle everything, do not pay anything yet, and do not wait — call now and we start triage immediately.
Active incident? The emergency line is answered by an engineer, not a queue.
If you're in an active incident right now
Do these four things while you call us. One: disconnect affected machines from the network — unplug the ethernet or disable Wi-Fi — but do not power them off, since that can destroy evidence and recovery options. Two: do not pay the ransom or contact the attacker yet; that decision comes after we know what is recoverable. Three: do not delete the ransom note or wipe anything — it helps identify the strain and the right decryptor. Four: call (831) 204-0501 so a cleared engineer can start containing the spread immediately.
Every minute matters in the first hour. Reaching us fast is the single biggest factor in how much we can save.
How we get you back online
A disciplined incident-response process, run by a cleared engineer who has worked inside high-security environments — not improvised under pressure.
2. Incident Triage & Scope
We determine what was hit, how the attacker got in, what data was touched, and — critically — what backups and clean systems remain. This first hour shapes the entire recovery and the insurance and notification decisions.
3. Recovery From Backup
Where recoverable backups exist, we restore from copies the attacker could not reach or delete. Where they are partial, we combine restores, snapshots, decryption tools, and unaffected systems to rebuild as much as possible, as fast as possible.
4. Eradication & Hardening
Before you are fully back, we make sure the attacker is fully out — no dormant accounts, no persistence — and close the entry point with EDR, MFA, and segmentation so the same door cannot be used twice.
5. Insurance & Documentation
We produce the incident timeline, scope, and remediation record your cyber-insurance carrier and breach counsel require, and coordinate with their incident-response process so your claim is not held up by missing documentation.
24/7 Emergency Response
A real engineer on the phone, not a ticket in a queue. Active incidents get immediate remote triage and same-day on-site mobilization across the Central Coast. Call (831) 204-0501.
Under attack? Get an engineer on the phone now
Call (831) 204-0501 for an active incident, or send an urgent message and we will respond immediately. The sooner we are involved, the more of your business we can save.
Call (831) 204-0501 Send an Urgent MessageRecovery without paying the ransom
Paying should be the last resort, not the first. It funds the next attack, often delivers a slow or broken decryptor, and can flag you as a business that pays — an invitation to be hit again. Our goal is to make payment unnecessary by recovering from backups the attacker could not reach, because that is exactly what immutable, properly isolated backups are for.
When backups are incomplete, we layer in cloud snapshots, shadow copies, vendor decryptors, and clean systems to rebuild as much as possible. And we are straight with you about what is and is not recoverable — no false promises while the clock is running.
Not just ransomware — any IT emergency
A down server, a dead firewall, an email outage during your busiest week, a compromised Microsoft 365 account spraying phishing to your clients, an employee who clicked and now something is spreading — these are emergencies too, and we respond to them the same way: fast, by phone, with a cleared engineer. If your business is stopped and you need it running, call (831) 204-0501.
After the recovery: so it never happens again
Getting you back online is half the job. The other half is making sure you are not back here in six months. Once you are stable, we close the gap the attacker used and build the defenses that stop a repeat — EDR with 24/7 monitoring, phishing-resistant MFA, and identity hardening, plus immutable, tested backups — ideally as part of ongoing managed IT so security is maintained, not installed once and forgotten.
Ransomware & emergency IT FAQs
We're down right now — how fast can you respond?
Call (831) 204-0501 immediately. We begin remote triage as soon as you reach us, often within minutes, and mobilize on-site across the Central Coast same-day for active incidents. The faster we can contain it, the more we can save, so do not wait to call.
Should we pay the ransom?
Not as a first move, and ideally not at all. Paying funds the next attack, does not guarantee a working decryptor, and often marks you as a soft target for repeat extortion. If you have recoverable backups — which we work to confirm first — you usually do not need to pay. We help you make that decision with clear eyes, alongside your insurer and counsel.
Can you recover our data without paying?
Very often, yes. If you have backups the attacker could not reach or delete, we recover from those. Where backups are partial, we combine restores with decryption tools, shadow copies, and unaffected systems to rebuild as much as possible. The outcome depends on what is intact, which is exactly what our first hour of triage determines.
We don't have good backups — can you still help?
Yes. We have brought businesses back from incidents with no clean backup by recovering from cloud copies, snapshots, unaffected endpoints, and in some cases vendor decryptors. We are honest about what is and is not recoverable, and we focus on getting you operating again as fast as possible while preserving what evidence matters.
Do you work with our cyber-insurance carrier?
Yes. We document the incident, scope, and remediation the way carriers and breach counsel require, coordinate with their incident-response process, and produce the report you need for the claim. If you are unsure whether to notify your carrier first, call us and we will walk you through it.
How do we keep this from happening again?
Recovery is step one; hardening is step two. After you are back online we close the door the attacker came through — EDR with 24/7 monitoring, phishing-resistant MFA, immutable backups, and segmentation — so the same incident cannot repeat. See cybersecurity and backup and disaster recovery.
Don't face it alone — call now
An active ransomware or IT emergency is not the time to read more pages. Call (831) 204-0501 and get a cleared engineer working on it in minutes.
Call (831) 204-0501 Book a Hardening Assessment