thecomputerguy
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
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I was referred to a client by a colleague in the area who is sick. I took the call and spoke to the guy who informed me that he has sent home his employees for the day because yesterday they got hit with a cryptolocker variant, so he says. He says that all of his data is on his server is encrypted and inaccessible and another possibly two out of 15 workstations are also infected.
All of this of course based on his word. He claims that he does have legitimate backups onsite and offsite but just wants to get the server back to "where it was". I informed him that I've never been to his office, or seen his setup, which makes it difficult to tell him the scope of the job without at least an initial consultation onsite. I don't know if what has infected him is in fact what he says it is (he called it Odin).
I told him I could be there in two hours and I gave him my rate, then he got a little quiet. Then he said OK but if you come in two hours I need to know that you will have me up and running by the end of the day. I told him I couldn't promise him that site unseen but I could give me an idea of what needs to happen after the first hour of a consultation. He says, well I know what is wrong I just need you to do this and this and this. I re-iterated that I'm not in the business to make promises I can't keep, and while I will get a gameplan together for him there is strong possibility that continued work will bleed on into tomorrow.
It sounds like it's possible his server is hosed and will need to be wiped as well as a couple of the other workstations. A big red flag was that his "server" is a poweredge T110 which is their entry line server and probably cost him $1000 or less which screams cheap.
At the end of the conversation I just said "Look I'm not going to promise anything until I see it, I don't know the state of the workstations/server, the network, what roles the server played (am I installing a workgroup server, or a full blown virtualized DC with RDS on it?), or what the backups look like, and that I need one hour to determine that.
He said he'd think about it and call me back in a half hour. He never did call me back. I can't imagine finding any decent tech that will make those sort promises site unseen, and to that I say, good luck sir!
P.S. I can't imagine making that promise and then having to work until 3AM for a brand new client who sounds cheap right off the bat, and I don't even know if he pays, and I already have a full schedule that I would have to re-arrange for him.
All of this of course based on his word. He claims that he does have legitimate backups onsite and offsite but just wants to get the server back to "where it was". I informed him that I've never been to his office, or seen his setup, which makes it difficult to tell him the scope of the job without at least an initial consultation onsite. I don't know if what has infected him is in fact what he says it is (he called it Odin).
I told him I could be there in two hours and I gave him my rate, then he got a little quiet. Then he said OK but if you come in two hours I need to know that you will have me up and running by the end of the day. I told him I couldn't promise him that site unseen but I could give me an idea of what needs to happen after the first hour of a consultation. He says, well I know what is wrong I just need you to do this and this and this. I re-iterated that I'm not in the business to make promises I can't keep, and while I will get a gameplan together for him there is strong possibility that continued work will bleed on into tomorrow.
It sounds like it's possible his server is hosed and will need to be wiped as well as a couple of the other workstations. A big red flag was that his "server" is a poweredge T110 which is their entry line server and probably cost him $1000 or less which screams cheap.
At the end of the conversation I just said "Look I'm not going to promise anything until I see it, I don't know the state of the workstations/server, the network, what roles the server played (am I installing a workgroup server, or a full blown virtualized DC with RDS on it?), or what the backups look like, and that I need one hour to determine that.
He said he'd think about it and call me back in a half hour. He never did call me back. I can't imagine finding any decent tech that will make those sort promises site unseen, and to that I say, good luck sir!
P.S. I can't imagine making that promise and then having to work until 3AM for a brand new client who sounds cheap right off the bat, and I don't even know if he pays, and I already have a full schedule that I would have to re-arrange for him.
