February 2019
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This is a bi-monthly compilation of questions that our clients have asked us recently!
I just got this very alarming e-mail claiming that a hacker had broken into my laptop, taken embarrassing pictures of me and threatened to send copies of them to my entire contacts list unless I send hundreds of dollars worth of bitcoin. I ignored the threat but is it really possible for someone to break into my computer as he described?? Well, you did exactly the right thing by ignoring the e-mail and we certainly understand your concern about the possiblitiy that someone really could get into your computer and use the information to take advantage of you! Bitcoin, for those not familiar with the term, is an untraceable method of sending funds electronically anywhere in the world. The bad news is, yes, given the right circumstances it is possible for someone to break into your computer and do all kinds of misdeeds. The good news is that the possibility of it happening is almost infinitesimal IF you protect yourself with a few simple steps. The first and most important step is never, ever allow someone to gain remote access to your computer unless you are absolutely sure you know who they are and why they want such access. While there are legitimate reasons for such a request, they are very infrequent and should only come as a result of a contact that you initiated in the first place. Contacts as the result of an e-mail solicitation or telephone call to you, or an unexpected message on your screen claiming that a problem has been traced to your computer, should NEVER prompt you to permit an outsider to connect to your computer remotely. Second, be extremely wary of any software you might download off of the Internet. This is especially true for any software that claims to boost the speed of your computer. In our experience, essentially none of the "free" performance enhancement tools work at all and many actually diminish overall computer performance. Also, please avoid installing any "free" gaming software as it is frequently bundled with various kinds of malware. Third, make sure you have some kind of malware/virus protection software on you computer and keep it undated regularly. It is virtually impossible for an outsider to gain access to your computer without your assistance, wittingly or unwittingly. We are familiar with many of the techniques employed by the bad guys out on the Internet. A quick phone call or e-mail to one of us could easily help you avoid being victimized. I just found out that a bunch of my friends received e-mails from me soliciting money! I never sent those messages! What do I do? The very first thing you should do is immediately log into your e-mail account and change your password. It's possible someone simply forged your return address on a message, but we've seen a couple of instances where a hacker was more creative and required a bit more detective work. The second thing to do is to send an e-mail message to yourself. Assuming you receive that message, you will have confirmed that your e-mail account has not been modified to forward incoming messages to another address. Also, by carefully examing the return address on the message, you can confirm that your outgoing messages have not been modified to make replies go to an address other than your own. If you never receive your test message to yourself, that may mean that your account has been compromised. If you receive the test message but the return address has been modified, that is also an indication that the account has been compromised. It is a fairly simple matter to correct the changes if you are familiar with accessing options used to customize your account profile/settings. After you are sure your account is properly (re)configured, you may want to send a short note to everyone on your contacts list to assure them you did not send the solicitation message in question. If you are not sure you are comfortable trying to resolve the situation, please call Terri or me and we will come to your home to help you take care of the matter. What do you want to know more about? There are still many other topics we could talk about here or in a personal consultation. We welcome your comments and questions for future issues of the OCW Insider. You also can give one of us a call or shoot an e-mail and we'll set up an appointment to meet with you! |
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phone: 864.710.7009 email: dave@oneclickwonders.com |
phone: 864.633.6707 email: terri@oneclickwonders.com |