Virus Scams Malware

IMPORTANT INFO:

Got malware or a virus or maybe were part of a scam or people posing as support and remote connecting to your computer or device info stealers is what it is about

HERE IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO IMPORTANT IN ORDER:

DON’T PANIC FIRST AND FOREMOST FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

  • Disconnnect this computer or device from the internet immeidately.
  • Use a known good computer or device to sign out of all accounts on all devices on all accounts you can do so.
  • Change the password for your password manager.
  • Change the passwords for your emails first because remember your email is how you reset your passwords!
  • Change the passwords for social media as well as logins may be associated with social media as well.
  • Enable 2FA wherever possible.
  • Change the passwords for your bank accounts
  • Change the passwords for any payment apps or other financial accounts.
  • Change the passwords for any shopping accounts you have online.
  • Contact your bank or any card companies and get new cards new checking numbers etc… Crypto or assets stocks retirement funds credit etc…
  • With your computer offline Backup your most important data using external storage. Or have someone do it for you. We are here to help.
  • Finally do a complete wipe of your system DO NOT trust a virus scanner will clean your computer this is a very common mistake people make! Bring it to us let us do it.
  • These things happen to the best of us there is no shame in getting help when you need it don’t panic follow these steps and act swiftly to limit any loss or problems. Often if you do these things you will make the hack or scam or bad click on a fake email useless but you must act in this order! Often these info stealers there is a buffer of time you have to correct and lock out the threat but you have to act in this order and do so quickly to limit loss or aquisition of your accounts via takeover. Your emails are you lifeline be sure to set good passwords and enable 2FA.

Other Things To Do:

It is important to reconsider the things you do online. And how easily you extend trust. Then industry of scams is huge this has nothing to do with being paranoid or privacy etc… The phone/internet scam industry is on par to have trillions of dollars in GDP this year. Scamming is no longer this small group of people it is an enterprise or a business. It has been said that even some countries have participated in these things (according to some sources). This is further complicated after the removal of data collection legislation after some large donations by entitites collecting and selling data. So it is important to know the enviornment we are in is much different that it once was. So this is simply for educational awareness and purposes. As always I’m not suggesting people stop living life as they would but some precautionary measures one could take are as follows with all things considered:
DISCLAIMER: These thoughts are merely opinions based of news articles and content from vairious main stream sources always do your own research!:

  • Restart any devices at least once per week once per day if possible
  • Do not click links in emails EVER! Always manually visit the website.
  • Do not install software from unknown sources.
  • Do not forward ports on your router.
  • Maintain and update your equipment on a regular basis.
  • Opt out of all data collection when possible.
  • Don’t use free VPN software and be sure VPNS you purchase are from a trusted reputable source.
  • Stay Away from internet connected TV boxes or minipc’s that are dirt cheap from non reputable companies you’ve never heard of. If they are too cheap you are paying a price somewhere.
  • Internet connected TV’s if you use them adjust them for maximal privacy settings although this does not give the same protection as not connecting them to the internet. Roku was recently in the crosshairs of collecting data even when it wasn’t supposed to Samsung and other TV manufacturers have had similar issues.
  • Disable services that are not required on your network be it local or non local if you are not using them all the time only turn them on when you require them.
  • Use different forms of malware protection including adblocking when possible to protect against ad scams and adware.
  • Lock down your use of your person through other methods via credit reporting agencies or otherwise use monitoring where possible.
  • Use passwords that exceed 16chars or more when possible a combination of letters numbers and or symbols when possible.
  • Use firewalls for Linux, Windows, and MAC.
  • Disable UPNP when possible for networking.
  • Refrain from using IPV6.
  • Refrain from using API’s when possible.
  • Refrain from non local agentic AI and AI based operating systems, and AI in general as gaurd rails are easily bypassed at the moment on many of them. If you copy text from them place them into a non RTF document before posting them online.
  • Do not use free screen savers or Backgrounds. This helps prevent pixnapping attacks.
  • Refrain from software that hasn’t had a history of reputation if possible use known distributions such as app stores or linux distros deemed as safe where they institute checks before allowing software on the distro. You may really wish to do this thing and this software offers something exceptional for you to do it but the cost is not often worth it.

These are some sound advice principals suggested by several mainstream resources. These are not my direct thoughts or opinons while I may suggest them. We are a company that fixes things we are in no way a security company but we do wish to at least provide some educational context from well known sources and hands on learning.