Article
Fraudsters are becoming more technologically advanced every day. At some point, no matter what you do, your email or account may be hacked. Knowing what to do if you suspect you have been hacked can help minimize damage and the potential loss of sensitive information and funds.
Read the Signs
The longer a hacker has access to your network, system or accounts, the more harm they can do. Learn to spot the signs:
- Suspicious or unexplained charges on your bank account.
- Friends and family receive messages from you that you did not send.
- A password to an account (that you know is correct) does not work.
- Email notices about changes to your profile that you did not make.
- A notice that someone has logged in to your account.
- Your antivirus alerts you that your system is infected. Ensure the antivirus software is generating the alert, and not a website trying to fool you into calling a number or installing something else. Open your antivirus program to confirm if your computer is truly infected.
- Pop-up windows indicating that your computer has been encrypted with ransomware.
Fix the Problem
- Contact us immediately if you suspect your bank account(s) may have been hacked.
- Reset your password and enable multi-factor authentication.
- Try using your antivirus software to clean your system and restore your files.
- Uninstall/reinstall the operating system.
- Use a backup to restore your files.
- File a claim with your credit card company and turn on fraud alerts.
- Use a credit monitoring service to monitor for suspicious activity.
Prevention is Key
- Enable automatic software updates.
- Make sure passwords are long and unique.
- Use a password manager.
- Enable and use multi-factor authentication wherever possible.
- Back up your files using the 3-2-1 rule:
- Keep at least three copies of your data;
- Store two copies on different storage media; and
- Store one copy off-site.
Your security is our top priority. We will never contact you asking for your financial or personal information or ask a third party to log in to your computer to unlock your access.
If you receive a message requesting confidential information that claims to be from us, do not click any links, and contact us immediately. It is critical to share this information with your team and continue to foster a vigilant workforce with regular training to help safeguard your business.