It can happen to anyone. Even the best security precautions cannot keep you 100% safe from hackers. According to the SANS Institute, it may not be immediately obvious that you have been hacked; however, there are several indications that you may have been hacked, including:
- You receive notice of possible infection from your antivirus program.
- Your browser’s homepage has unexpectedly changed or you are being taken to websites you did not choose.
- There are new accounts that you did not create, or new programs running that you did not install.
- Your computer or applications frequently crash, unknown apps appear, or strange windows keep popping up.
- A program requests authorization to make changes to your system, though you’re not actively installing or updating any of your applications.
- You cannot log in to your system or accounts, even though you know your password is correct.
- Friends tell you they are receiving spam emails from you.
- Your mobile device is generating unauthorized charges to premium SMS numbers.
- The data or battery usage on your mobile device increases for unknown reasons.
If you believe that your device has been hacked, you should respond quickly. Report hacking issues on devices owned by your employer to the appropriate person at your company. In the meantime, disconnect the device from the Internet and turn it off or put it in sleep mode.
When the device is yours, there are several actions you can take to recover.
- Change all of your passwords by logging in to your accounts from a device you know has not been hacked. Do not change your passwords from the hacked device.
- Follow the actions recommended by your antivirus software to quarantine or delete infected files.
- Regularly backing up your files will allow you to recover in the event you are hacked. Maintain backups you can use to restore your data in the event files are lost.
- Do not use backups to restore the operating system, only the data files (e.g., documents, photos, etc.). Your operating system may need to be reinstalled. Consult instructions from your device’s manufacturer for more information on how to do this.
Additionally, BusinessInsider suggests several steps you can take to recover quickly from a hack.
- Don’t panic!
- Get your account(s) back by contacting the service providers, such as Google and Facebook.
- Change your passwords.
- Try to figure out what happened so you can prevent future problems.
- Check your settings to make sure the hackers are not forwarding your email to another address.
- Notify everyone in your address book that you were hacked and they should not click on links in emails that may have been sent by the hacker.
- Update all of your software.
- Check all of your accounts for any signs that they were affected.
- Remove connections between apps, extensions and accounts. If hackers can access one, they can get to anything that is connected.
- Perform a scan with good antivirus or antimalware software.
Getting hacked isn’t the end of the world. If you take action quickly after discovering a problem, you may be able to have it cleaned up in a few hours.
