Anonymity Someone's trying to hack you: What to do?

[Fixxx]

You’ve Interacted with Scammers or Visited a Phishing Site.​

What Measures Should You Take to Prevent Being Hacked?​

Let's analyze the situation - someone is trying to hack or deceive, but you are not sure about the scale of the problem. For example:

• You received an email or saw an ad, clicked on a link to a website and started to have doubts.
• You received a call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft, saying they need to remove a virus from your computer.
• You received a mistaken bill, called customer support and they offered to help you avoid overpayment by sending a useful link.

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What Measures Should You Take to Prevent Hacking?​

Don’t Provide More Information

This is the first and foremost rule that you can apply without thinking. If you find a website where you need to enter your name, email, phone number, or payment card details and it seems suspicious, close it immediately. If you are speaking on the phone, even if the caller claims to be from a "bank" or "customer support" and the conversation seems even slightly strange, hang up immediately and don't answer if they call back. Scammers often play complex schemes and may call from another number or contact you via messenger, possibly impersonating someone else or another organization. Ignore them. If you are communicating through teleconferencing tools like Zoom, end the conference and close the application.

Disconnect Your Device from the Internet

This advice is crucial if you have installed any applications at the request of the caller or if they were doing something on your computer through remote control tools - such as Zoom, Skype, MS Teams, or Google Meet. In this case, there is a high likelihood that malware has been installed on your computer or smartphone. To prevent them from controlling your device remotely, immediately disconnect your computer/smartphone from the Internet by turning off Wi-Fi and cellular data. The simplest and quickest way is to activate airplane mode; if your computer is connected via cable, unplug the Ethernet cable.

Consider What Hackers May Have Learned

If you just visited a suspicious website or had a phone conversation, think about what information you may have entered on the site or dictated to the caller. Your name and address? Phone number? Credit card number? Password? If it’s limited to your name, address and phone number, no additional actions are required, but you should remain vigilant - likely, they will attempt to attack you again based on the information they have gathered, possibly with another scam. It’s worse if you shared more sensitive information - any passwords, photos of personal documents, or banking information: in this case, follow the advice in the next two sections.

Change Your Passwords

Quickly log into all services where the "compromised" password was used and change it to a new, unique one for each service. If you have disconnected your device from the Internet, use another device instead of reconnecting the potentially infected one. Don’t hesitate to ask neighbors or colleagues for help if you don’t have another device. Timeliness is crucial; every minute counts. When logging into any services, manually enter the website address or access it through your browser bookmarks, rather than clicking on links from recent emails. If the password you entered was for online banking, a payment system, or any account with money, simply changing the password is not enough - follow the next advice to protect your funds.

Contact Your Bank, Credit Bureau or Service Provider

If you provided your bank card numbers or other financial information, you need to contact your bank immediately. Card blocking is usually available through a special "hotline", as well as through the mobile app and personal account on the website. For other types of data, such as bank account details, consult with bank specialists or online service providers about protective measures. Don’t wait for a call from the bank - it could be scammers; call them yourself using the number listed on their website or in the mobile app. If you shared extensive personal information or photos of documents, scammers may use this data in fraudulent schemes, such as applying for a loan. To prevent this, contact the credit bureau and inquire about available protective measures. These vary by country, examples for the USA, Germany and Russia - but usually include notifications of any inquiries regarding your credit history (checking your credit history is the first step when applying for a loan), blocking new inquiries, or self-restriction on loan issuance, which will make it impossible to obtain loans in your name.

Check Your Computer

If you had to disconnect your computer from the Internet due to potential infection, thoroughly check it for malware or potentially unsafe software before reconnecting it to the network. If you already have a comprehensive protection system, ensure that the protection databases are up to date, all protection and scanning technologies are activated and run a full scan. It’s important to enable the most "thorough" scan settings that will allow you to detect not only malware but also potentially harmful software, such as remote control tools. Remove any detected threats according to the instructions provided by the security application. What if you don’t have protection on your computer or the protection databases are outdated? Download the protection software from the official manufacturer’s website using another computer. Then transfer the installation files via a USB flash drive.

Look for Unusual Activity

After taking all the above actions, it’s essential to ensure that the attackers haven’t done anything harmful in potentially compromised accounts. If these are accounts for online stores or banks, check for recent purchases. If you see purchases you didn’t make, try to cancel them by contacting the online store or bank. In social media, check for recent posts, new friends, the contents of your photo albums and so on. In messengers, review recent conversations to see if any fraudulent messages were sent in your name. In all accounts, be sure to check your contact information, name, profile picture, address and payment information. If you notice any changes, it means the account has been compromised and you need to change the password and, if possible, secure the account with two-factor authentication.

You must also check which devices are linked to your accounts in online services, social media and messengers. If any of your accounts have been hacked, the attackers will try to maintain access, for example, by linking their device to your account. Depending on the specific service, this connection may persist even after you change your password. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure that you recognize all devices connected to your account and active sessions (online sessions) listed in the "Security" section (this section may be called "Devices", "Linked Devices", "Recent Sessions", etc. in different services). Usually, in any service, next to the name of the connected device, there is a button to "Disconnect Device" or "End Session" allowing you to remove any unauthorized access from your account.

If you cannot understand what devices and sessions are listed, disconnect them all, ensuring you remember the updated password. You will need to log back into your accounts with the new password (you did change the password, right?), but the attackers will no longer be able to do so.​

The most challenging part is dealing with the consequences of an email hack. First, in addition to the steps mentioned above, you will need to check your email forwarding rules. Ensure that neither in your mailbox settings nor in the message processing rules have there been any forwarding of your emails to external addresses. Second, if your email is linked to accounts in other services, the attackers may hack most of them. If you notice any signs that someone has tampered with your email, you will need to check for suspicious activity and change the password for all services linked to that email account.

Prevention is Better than Cure​

Following the advice above will require a significant amount of time, effort and nerves. To minimize the risks of fraud, take precautions in advance:

• Protect your smartphone from potential theft or loss.
• Use a smart caller ID on your smartphone to block scam calls.
• Use unique passwords and two-factor authentication on every account.
• Install comprehensive protection software on all computers and smartphones.