I've been hacked - What do I do next??

[binaryzero]

On 02/03/2023 at 01:24, Arceles said:

for the kind of usage that computer was having... use linux. Is another protection in itself.

Sure, it must be the operating system's fault... 🤦‍♂️

Pretty sure PEBKAC.

[thisdude]

On 01/03/2023 at 19:58, binaryzero said:

Sure, it must be the operating system's fault... 🤦‍♂️

Pretty sure PEBKAC.

Right, most of the time it's the user doing something intentionally (downloading stuff) or not paying attention to what they're clicking on etc.

[+DonC Subscriber²]

On 02/03/2023 at 01:58, binaryzero said:

Sure, it must be the operating system's fault... 🤦‍♂️

Pretty sure PEBKAC.

The package systems on Red Hat and Ubuntu are a much more curated experience.

If I didn't know the legitimate sources for Windows software then I could go astray by doing a web search and getting malware.

Winget will surely help though.

[Joe User]

On 01/03/2023 at 09:24, Arceles said:

for the kind of usage that computer was having... use linux. Is another protection in itself.

No, it isn't. 

[Joe User]

On 01/03/2023 at 19:58, binaryzero said:

Sure, it must be the operating system's fault... 🤦‍♂️

Pretty sure PEBKAC.

Yup.

It was a bit reckless, learn from the mistakes made, fix the PC and move on. 

And never do this at work. 🙂

 

[hekkyUK]

Yeah it totally PEBKAC so I take full responsibility but lessons have sure been learnt....

All passwords changed and nothing personal left on the PC while I think about how to proceed and 2FA has been set up where possible.

My bank sorted the money side of things with one phonecall which was good - No fuss or drama at all. 

One thing that did surprise me somewhat - I emailed every company that I had fake accounts setup with and not a SINGLE one even replied....

Thanks once again to everyone that replied there's some very good advice here! 

 

[C:Amie]

On 02/03/2023 at 12:27, hekkyUK said:

Yeah it totally PEBKAC so I take full responsibility but lessons have sure been learnt....

All passwords changed and nothing personal left on the PC while I think about how to proceed and 2FA has been set up where possible.

My bank sorted the money side of things with one phonecall which was good - No fuss or drama at all. 

One thing that did surprise me somewhat - I emailed every company that I had fake accounts setup with and not a SINGLE one even replied....

Thanks once again to everyone that replied there's some very good advice here! 

 

Shady internet marketing companies exist because of fraud, nuisance and data theft. Not in spite of it.

All they've done is dumped some hack database up to the mail validator and got you to pay for matching the email addresses to real names and addresses so that they can better target their next victims. We can't pretend that these scummy data scraping and matching companies exist for any other purpose but to support fraud, consumer upset, privacy violations and general aggravation. You've probably done yourself a disservice for contacting them in the first place as they'll just add anything you told them to their data set and sell it.

UK banks are pretty good about this sort of thing aye.

 

Good luck and be wary about follow-though. Once they know you've been "got", you may easily find that they persist for a bit or that they sell the fact that you were a successful target to other criminals and they'll be in touch fairly quickly to see if the goose continues to lay the golden egg.

[kiddingguy]

Oouch. I feel for you. Hope it doesn't happen to me.

I'd go with abovementioned. Do a clean format on a new SSD/HDD, and get you apps & programs from legitimate sources. Replace all passwords.

Burn your compromised HDD, because changes are there are still some remains of the compromised attack after a reformat. And they might visit you again.