West Harlem Group Assistance Stops Ransomware and Cryptojacking with BlackFog ADX

For IT Coordinator Julio Encarnación, the constant effort of educating employees about phishing threats had become increasingly difficult.

“As IT Coordinator, I worry about people receiving emails that look legitimate but hide something far more sinister. I have always encouraged the team to check with me if something looks suspicious, but verifying every email became time consuming. I knew I needed a better solution,” he explained.

Beyond phishing, Julio was also deeply concerned about cryptojacking and ransomware. “I’ve felt firsthand the pain of remediating a ransomware attack caused by someone opening a bad attachment, always at the worst time, like the end of the year during the holidays. To truly protect our organization, I needed a proactive solution that would prevent threats and safeguard our data.”

WHGA recognized the need for a stronger security strategy, one that could prevent phishing-based threats, cryptojacking, and ransomware while protecting sensitive data. When BlackFog reached out, Julio was immediately interested in ADX’s prevention-first approach.

“Not long after speaking with BlackFog, I was called into a meeting about cryptojacking. I mentioned BlackFog to the team and we decided to run a trial to see how it would work in our environment.”

During the proof of value (POV), the team saw ADX operating within their environment and were relieved to find their systems were relatively clean, rare during initial deployments. They were also impressed by how lightweight BlackFog was, a critical factor since they were still running Windows 7 during an upcoming upgrade cycle.

“I first tested the solution on a couple of employee devices to make sure it wouldn’t slow anything down, especially with our legacy systems. BlackFog worked quietly in the background with no issues. As we were preparing for a major upgrade, it was important that the technology could run seamlessly without impacting efficiency.”

After a successful first week, more devices were added to the trial, and results remained consistently strong. “We loved that BlackFog was a robust solution without trying to be a ‘jack of all trades.’ The POV made the purchasing decision easy,” Julio said.

With BlackFog ADX in place, Julio now has more time to focus on strategic initiatives, such as WHGA’s ongoing system upgrade, rather than fielding constant security concerns.

“I used to get five to ten staff queries a week that I had to investigate. Now it’s more like one or two a month. It’s given me my time back, and most importantly, peace of mind. My team feels more confident knowing they’re protected.”

When asked if he would recommend BlackFog to other organizations, Julio did not hesitate: “If you don’t have this solution, get it. You never know when you’ll be attacked, or if it’s already in your network. BlackFog is a set-it-and-forget-it solution that works 24/7. After dealing with two consecutive Christmas attacks, that means a lot. I don’t worry about ransomware as much anymore. If I get a notification, I check the console and see BlackFog has already caught and contained it.”