The Finance Ward rebuilds its security posture from the ground up following a ransomware incident

The challenge

A ransomware attack that encrypted client files and shut the business down

The Finance Ward is a boutique Auckland accounting firm serving SME clients across a range of industries. Like many small professional services firms, they relied on a generalist IT provider who managed their environment reactively — patches were applied inconsistently, endpoint protection was a legacy antivirus product that hadn't been updated in months, and backups were stored on a local NAS that was mapped as a network drive.

When ransomware struck via a phishing email clicked by a staff member, it encrypted not only the workstation but the mapped NAS backup drive as well — leaving the firm with no clean data to restore from. Operations stopped completely. With client tax returns in-progress and GST deadlines approaching, the partners contacted Optimyze for emergency incident response support.

• Ransomware encrypted all workstations and the NAS backup drive
• No clean backup available — local backups also encrypted
• Client tax files and financial records inaccessible
• IRD and GST deadlines at risk for multiple clients
• No incident response plan or cyber insurance in place

The solution

Emergency incident response, full data recovery, and a complete security rebuild

Optimyze's incident response team was on-site within four hours of the initial call. The team contained the attack, forensically analysed the infection vector, and identified that the firm's Microsoft 365 cloud environment had not been affected — allowing client files that had been synced to OneDrive to be recovered in full.

Within 72 hours, all workstations had been wiped and rebuilt, the environment had been secured, and the firm was back to full operation with all client data intact. Optimyze then worked with the partners over the following month to build a security foundation that would prevent a recurrence — including immutable cloud backups, SOC monitoring, and a comprehensive staff security training programme.

• On-site incident response and ransomware containment within 4 hours
• Full forensic analysis identifying the phishing vector and lateral movement
• Complete workstation rebuild across all staff devices within 72 hours
• 100% data recovery via Microsoft 365 and OneDrive cloud recovery
• Immutable cloud backup replacing the vulnerable local NAS
• SentinelOne EDR deployed across all devices with SOC monitoring
• Multi-factor authentication enforced across all accounts
• Staff phishing awareness training with ongoing simulated campaigns
• Written incident response plan and cyber insurance documentation

The results

Full recovery, zero recurrence, and a security posture built to last