Let me say this loud and clear…don’t let hackers in your computer! Although it may sound simple, hackers are professional thieves that have thought of every way possible to trick you, manipulate you, scare you and prey on any unsuspecting individual. Don’t feel foolish if you unknowingly were duped. These are professionals.
We recently heard of someone receiving an “Amber Alert” type message on their computer. It had a phone number to call for “technical support.” When called, they then connected into the computer. They asked for $149.00 and became belligerent when the customer said they would call them back. They also asked for age, middle initial, etc. It’s really hard to catch onto this when you don’t think like a criminal.
What to do if they get in
- The first thing to do is to completely shut down your computer. Take if off your network and do not restart it while connected.
- Identify and ePHI that may be on the compuer. (how to deal with that will be in a different blog!)
- Load some type of anitmalware software onto a jump drive, and run it off of that.
- Try and check for a footprint of some sort to see where they have been, and if they extracted any data. That’s why its important to remember dates and times the hackers may have gotten in.
- Identify if you have any list of usernames and passwords that could have been stolen
- Identify any websites, e.g. banking, etc. that you may have your password stored in.
- Start changing ALL passwords.
- If this is your personal PC, contact a identity company like Lifelock to help you secure you private information.
Again, don’t feel foolish. Get educated, and aware of what is going on out there. I deal with mostly people in the medical industry. Their time is spent learning about quality healthcare, and patient treatments. They know a lot about computers, but certainly not as much as us folks in the computer business. This is why I blog so much!
If you suspect you have been hacked, or want to find out more about how to prevent/identify a hack, contact our office at 855-698-4373.
