Malware Attack Recovery & IT Modernization

A malware attack shut down a manufacturing company for two weeks, halting all shipments. Blue Pisces Consulting established structure through Jira tracking and daily coordination to restore shipping within one week, then transformed the recovery into a strategic modernization by migrating to the cloud and implementing comprehensive security controls. Turning crisis into long-term resilience.

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Solution

Blue Pisces Consulting provided structure by implementing Jira for task tracking and transparency, established daily touchpoints to drive progress and remove blockers, and prioritized all work by business impact. Our deep technical expertise guided critical decisions on what could be safely restored quickly, all focused on one question: "How do we start shipping product again?" While, transparent reporting ensured stakeholders remained aligned throughout the recovery.

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Result

Shipping resumed within one week. Rather than simply rebuilding, the recovery became a complete modernization: migrated to cloud infrastructure, rebuilt all PCs, implemented new firewall architecture, and established comprehensive security controls including automated patching, multi-layered protection, and proactive monitoring. This catastrophic incident became a catalyst for positive change, delivering both immediate business recovery and led to a long-term acquisition and integration strategy to modernize and secure the technology foundation.

Challenge

A malware attack completely paralyzed a manufacturing company’s operations, forcing a full two-week shutdown that prevented product shipments and threatened significant revenue loss. The severity of the compromise required drastic measures: all technology services were halted, and any device with an operating system was taken offline due to trust concerns. The corporate network was completely segregated to prevent further spread, effectively isolating teams from their normal communication and collaboration tools.

Adding complexity to an already dire situation, the international nature of the organization meant that procuring replacement equipment required navigating lengthy procurement processes across borders while working against the clock to restore operations. The company faced the dual challenge of recovering quickly enough to minimize business impact while ensuring that security vulnerabilities were thoroughly addressed rather than simply patched over.

Solution

Structure and Coordination

The immediate priority was bringing all four companies into alignment and establishing clear accountability for each recovery task. To provide transparency, we provided a new Jira instance, so every recovery activity could be logged, assigned, and monitored.

Given the tight timeline, daily touchpoints were established to keep everyone aligned and moving forward. This coordination approach helped surface blockers quickly, prevented duplicated efforts, and maintained clear accountability across all workstreams. The daily cadence instilled appropriate urgency without creating panic, teams and stakeholders could see steady progress and knew issues would be addressed immediately.

Business-Driven Prioritization

Leveraging deep technical understanding and operational experience, the recovery effort was prioritized not by what was easiest to fix, but by what would deliver the most business value. The critical question driving decisions was: “How do we start shipping product again?” This meant identifying the minimal viable path to restore manufacturing and fulfillment operations, making pragmatic technical decisions about what could be brought online safely and quickly versus what could wait for later phases.

This required asking the right questions at every decision point—understanding dependencies, identifying critical paths, and recognizing where technical workarounds could accelerate business recovery without compromising security standards.

Transparent Stakeholder Engagement

Weekly executive touchpoints complemented the daily operational cadence, providing leadership with clear visibility into recovery progress, risks, and timeline projections. All reporting flowed through Jira, ensuring consistency and enabling stakeholders to access real-time status without creating additional reporting burden on the recovery team.

The Transformation Opportunity

As systems were assessed and recovery plans developed, it became clear that simply rebuilding the compromised infrastructure would mean recreating the same vulnerabilities. Instead, the recovery effort was reframed as a modernization initiative.

Cloud Migration

Rather than rebuilding servers and infrastructure on-premise, the decision was made to migrate the entire technology stack to the cloud. This not only accelerated the recovery timeline by leveraging cloud provider infrastructure, but also positioned the company for better scalability, disaster recovery capabilities, and security posture going forward.

Infrastructure Rebuild and Hardening

Every workstation in the environment was rebuilt from the ground up, eliminating any possibility of lingering malware or compromised systems. This refresh provided an opportunity to standardize configurations and build security as a foundational principle rather than an afterthought:

Comprehensive patching protocols to ensure systems stay current
Multi-layered anti-virus and anti-malware protection
Content filtering to prevent users from accessing malicious sites
Rapid7 vulnerability management for continuous security assessment
New firewall infrastructure with modern threat protection
Proactive security monitoring and alerting to detect and respond to threats before they become incidents

Results

Immediate Business Recovery

Product shipping resumed by the end of the first week, dramatically reducing revenue impact
Critical business operations restored while maintaining security protocols

Infrastructure Modernization

All PCs rebuilt with secure baselines over subsequent weeks
Migration to cloud infrastructure
Modern firewall and network security architecture implemented

Long-Term Security Posture

Proactive monitoring and alerting systems in place to detect threats early
Automated patching and vulnerability management preventing future exposure
Layered security controls (anti-virus, anti-malware, content filtering) providing defense in depth
Regular security assessments through Rapid7 ensuring ongoing compliance

Malware Attack Recovery & IT Modernization