This is one of the most important questions and the honest answer is: not necessarily, and often no. Paying the ransom does not guarantee recovery. Many businesses pay and receive nothing in return, or receive a decryption tool that only partially works. Additionally, paying funds criminal organisations and marks your business as a paying target for future attacks. We assess whether other recovery options exist before payment is considered, and in many cases recovery without paying is genuinely possible.

In many cases, yes, depending on what you remember about the original password. If you have partial fragments, a rough idea of the format you used, or even just a sense of the types of characters involved, that gives us a meaningful basis to work from. The more you can recall, even vague clues, the better the realistic chances. We always assess the situation honestly before any commitment, and there is no charge if recovery is not possible.

We have to be honest with you: cryptocurrency that has been transferred to a scammer's wallet cannot be reversed or recovered by any IT company, regardless of what they promise you. Blockchain transactions are irreversible. If someone is offering to recover stolen crypto for an upfront fee, that is almost certainly a second scam. What we recommend is reporting the fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at antifraudcentre.ca and your local police, who have access to tools and legal powers that private companies do not.

This depends on how many words you remember and in what order. With all 12 or 24 words, recovery is straightforward. With partial words or the correct words in the wrong order, recovery may still be possible through systematic reconstruction. With fewer than half the words and no other clues, the realistic chances become very limited. We tell you honestly upfront what your specific situation looks like before any work begins.

This varies significantly depending on how many systems were affected, whether clean backups exist, and how quickly the attack was contained. A small business with good recent backups and quick containment can sometimes be largely operational within a day or two. A larger, more complex situation without usable backups takes considerably longer. We give you a realistic, honest timeline estimate once we have assessed your specific situation.

That is a completely fair question given how many fake recovery services exist in this space, and we respect you for asking it. We are a GTA-based IT company with a real physical presence in the Toronto area, a real phone number, and real existing clients across the Greater Toronto Area who use us for general IT support, Microsoft services, and cybersecurity. We do not solicit clients through social media messages or cold emails. You can find us through normal channels and speak to a real local person before committing to anything.

Many business insurance policies now include cyber incident coverage that can cover ransomware recovery costs, either partly or fully. If your business has cyber insurance, contact your insurer as early as possible after an attack, since they often have specific requirements about notification timing and approved recovery providers. We are happy to work with your insurer's requirements and provide documentation of the incident and recovery process as needed.