Ransomware rollback for tax firms
Tax practices are among the most targeted businesses for ransomware. Rollback technology lets you reverse an attack in minutes instead of paying a ransom and losing weeks of productivity.
Threat Landscape
Why ransomware gangs target tax firms
Tax practices hold exceptionally valuable data and face immovable deadlines, making them ideal victims for ransomware operators.
60%
of attacks during tax season
Attackers time their strikes for January through April, when your deadlines make you most desperate to pay and regain access to client data.
$180
per stolen tax record
Tax returns contain Social Security numbers, income data, and bank accounts, making them far more valuable than credit card numbers on the dark web.
43%
of targets are small businesses
Small and mid-size tax firms are disproportionately targeted because attackers know they often lack dedicated IT security staff.
21 days
average recovery time
Without rollback technology, the average small business takes three weeks to fully recover from a ransomware attack, missing critical filing deadlines.
Attack Anatomy
How a ransomware attack unfolds
Understanding the stages of a ransomware attack helps you see exactly where rollback technology intervenes to protect your practice.
Initial Access
The attacker gains entry to your network, most commonly through a phishing email with a malicious attachment or link. During tax season, these often impersonate the IRS, tax software vendors, or even your own clients sending documents. A single employee clicking the wrong link is all it takes.
Lateral Movement and Escalation
Once inside, the ransomware silently spreads across your network. It searches for file shares, mapped drives, and connected systems. It escalates its privileges, often gaining administrator-level access. This phase can take hours or weeks, during which the malware remains undetected.
Data Exfiltration
Modern ransomware groups now steal your data before encrypting it. They copy tax returns, Social Security numbers, bank account details, and client records to their own servers. This gives them a second lever: even if you can restore your files, they threaten to publish the stolen data unless you pay.
Encryption and Ransom Demand
The ransomware encrypts every file it can reach, rendering your tax software, client documents, and operating systems unusable. A ransom note appears demanding payment in cryptocurrency. Average demands for small businesses range from $50,000 to $500,000. Without backups, many firms feel they have no choice but to pay.
Rollback Technology
How ransomware rollback protects you
Rollback is like an undo button for ransomware. Here is how the technology works and why it changes the equation entirely.
Automatic File Versioning
Rollback technology continuously tracks changes to every protected file on your systems. When ransomware encrypts a file, the endpoint agent detects the suspicious mass-encryption behavior and retains the pre-encryption version. Recovery is as simple as reverting to the last known good state.
Behavioral Detection
Unlike traditional antivirus that relies on known malware signatures, rollback-capable endpoint protection uses behavioral analysis. It watches for patterns like rapid file renaming, mass encryption, or shadow copy deletion. These are the hallmarks of ransomware, and the system intervenes before the attack completes.
Minutes, Not Weeks
With ransomware rollback, recovery time drops from days or weeks to minutes. The endpoint automatically quarantines the ransomware process, rolls affected files back to their pre-attack state, and restores normal operations. Your staff can resume working the same day.
No Ransom Payment Required
When you can restore your own files, you eliminate the attacker's leverage. You do not need to negotiate with criminals, fund criminal organizations, or hope they actually provide a working decryption key after payment (which only happens about 65% of the time).
Prevention Checklist
10 steps to ransomware-proof your tax practice
Do not wait for an attack to prepare
Our team can deploy ransomware rollback protection across your entire practice in as little as one business day. Schedule a consultation to learn how.
Get Ransomware Protection