Here's how to shake off a hacking
July 5, 2017
Face it: Hackers gonna hack. Here are some ways to know that you've been hacked and,
if so, what to do about it, courtesy of the UA Office of Information Technology.
- Your friends tell you. They鈥檝e received a spammy or phishy email from your account.
- Your phone tells you. Collection companies are calling about nonpayment. Battery and data usage are higher than normal. Charges for premium SMS numbers show up on your bill.
- Your browser tells you. Unwanted browser toolbars, home pages or plugins appear unexpectedly. You鈥檙e seeing lots of pop-ups or webpage redirects. Your online passwords aren鈥檛 working.
- Your software tells you. New accounts appear on your device. Antivirus messages report that the virus hasn鈥檛 been cleaned or quarantined. You see fake antivirus messages from software you don鈥檛 remember installing. Programs are running or requesting elevated privileges that you did not install. Programs randomly crash.
- Your bank tells you. You receive a message about insufficient funds due to unauthorized charges.
- Your mail tells you. You receive a notification from a company that has recently suffered a cybersecurity breach.
Shake it off. Following are the steps you can take to recover.
- Change your affected passwords using an unaffected device. Not sure which passwords are affected? It鈥檚 best to change them all.
- Update your mobile software and apps. Make sure you keep them up to date.
- Update your antivirus software. Then run a complete scan. Follow the instructions provided to quarantine or delete any infected files.
- Update your browser software and plugins. Check frequently for new updates and delete any unnecessary or obsolete plug-ins.
- Is your computer still acting wonky? It might be best to start from scratch with a complete reformat of your machine so you can ensure that all affected software is fixed.
- Self-report to credit agencies. If you believe your personally identifiable information has been affected, you don鈥檛 want to deal with identity theft on top of being hacked.
- Be prepared with backups. Don鈥檛 let the next compromise ruin your day. Backup your files frequently. Consider storing at least two separate backups: one on an external drive and one in cloud storage.
- Stay ahead of the hackers. Check the website to see if your accounts were hacked in a known attack.