{"id":8834,"date":"2024-02-01T13:02:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T17:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/?p=10289"},"modified":"2024-02-02T09:49:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T13:49:27","slug":"help-my-account-has-been-hacked-what-should-i-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/help-my-account-has-been-hacked-what-should-i-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Help! My Account Has Been Hacked\u2014What Should I Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How would you realize that one or more of your Internet accounts\u2014email, social media, financial\u2014have been hacked? (Some prefer the terms \u201ccompromised\u201d or \u201cbreached\u201d\u2014you may hear them from support techs.) Unfortunately, there\u2019s no telltale warning sign because \u201chacked\u201d could mean any number of things. Here are some possible indications:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>People you trust report receiving email that you didn\u2019t send.<\/li>\n<li>Social media friend requests are made to people you don\u2019t know, or messages you don\u2019t recognize are sent from your account.<\/li>\n<li>Although you\u2019re certain you have the correct password, you can\u2019t log in to an account.<\/li>\n<li>You become aware of your personal data appearing in places it shouldn\u2019t.<\/li>\n<li>Unknown charges or transfers appear in a bank or credit card account.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, attackers will also try to fool you into thinking an account has been compromised to get you to enter passwords or financial information on a website designed to steal data. Don\u2019t assume you\u2019ve been hacked just because you received a phishing email saying so or because you see unexpected notifications claiming your computer is infected. No legitimate entity will ever send such email, and the only notification about malware you should ever see would come from anti-malware software you installed.<\/p>\n<p>(Speaking of malware, dealing with that is a topic for another day\u2014we\u2019re focusing on online accounts in this article. Nonetheless, if one of your accounts has been compromised, it\u2019s also worth scanning your Mac with the free version of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.malwarebytes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Malwarebytes<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/virusbarrier-scanner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">VirusBarrier Scanner<\/a>, just in case.)<\/p>\n<p>First off, don\u2019t panic. It\u2019s important to take a deep breath, document everything you see with screenshots (press Command-Shift-5), and move quickly to regain control over whatever accounts were hacked and prevent others from falling prey to the attacker.<\/p>\n<p>When you suspect an account has been compromised, try to verify the problem. Do the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Alert techs:<\/b> If the account in question is for work, immediately alert your IT department and follow their instructions. If it\u2019s a personal account, contact us. Tell whoever is helping you that you have screenshots you can send and be ready to forward any suspicious messages you have as well.<\/li>\n<li><b>Gather evidence:<\/b> Ask the person who told you about the problem to forward the message they received to another of your email addresses, or to a close friend or family member so you can see what\u2019s being said in your name. Scrutiny of the fake message may reveal information about what has happened, though you may need help from someone with more technical experience.<\/li>\n<li><b>Examine email:<\/b> Since email account breaches are the most concerning (because they can be used to reset passwords elsewhere), scan your email for messages you didn\u2019t send or replies to such messages. Along with the Inbox, look in the Sent mailbox and the Trash. Also, check your settings and filters to ensure incoming messages aren\u2019t being forwarded elsewhere and then deleted.<\/li>\n<li><b>Check social media:<\/b> Connect to all your social media accounts\u2014even those you don\u2019t use regularly\u2014and look for posts, friend requests, messages, or anything else that suggests an attacker has been impersonating you.<\/li>\n<li><b>Audit accounts:<\/b> Log in to important accounts and look for suspicious activity, such as login attempts from unfamiliar locations or IP addresses or changes to account settings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you find evidence to suggest that one or more of your accounts have been compromised, follow these steps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Immediately change the passwords for any affected accounts. We always recommend using a password manager like <a href=\"https:\/\/1password.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1Password<\/a> to generate strong, random passwords.<\/li>\n<li>Whenever possible, turn on two-factor authentication.<\/li>\n<li>If available for the account in question, follow advice from the service. <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-us\/102560\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apple<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meta.com\/help\/policies\/safety\/hacked-account\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/accounts\/answer\/6294825\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meta.com\/help\/policies\/safety\/hacked-account\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/account-billing\/how-to-recover-a-hacked-or-compromised-microsoft-account-24ca907d-bcdf-a44b-4656-47f0cd89c245\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/safety-and-security\/x-account-compromised\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> all have advice on how to respond, as will many other companies.<\/li>\n<li>Review account settings for unauthorized changes, especially recovery options like backup phone numbers and email addresses.<\/li>\n<li>Look through your accounts in your password manager and change the passwords for the most important ones and any that might be related.<\/li>\n<li>If you can\u2019t get into an account because the password has been changed, make sure you have sole control of your email account and then trigger a password reset.<\/li>\n<li>For affected financial accounts, along with changing the password, immediately call the institution and ask for their help locking the account to prevent any transfers.<\/li>\n<li>If your email account was used to send phishing messages to contacts, you should alert any friends, family, and colleagues who might have received the messages that your account was hacked and that the previous message wasn\u2019t from you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Security breaches are stressful, we know, but it\u2019s imperative that you deal with them right away. The longer you wait, the more damage the attacker can cause, including stealing your money, impersonating you, scamming your friends and family, and compromising your employer\u2019s systems. We\u2019re here to help.<\/p>\n<p>(Featured image by iStock.com\/PUGUN SJ)<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Social Media: If you notice strange behavior in your online accounts, you might have been hacked. It\u2019s imperative that you act immediately to verify the breach, change passwords, lock accounts, and alert support personnel. We provide steps here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How would you realize that one or more of your Internet accounts\u2014email, social media, financial\u2014have been hacked? (Some prefer the terms \u201ccompromised\u201d or \u201cbreached\u201d\u2014you may hear them from support techs.) Unfortunately, there\u2019s no telltale warning sign because \u201chacked\u201d could mean any number of things. Here are some possible indications: People you trust report receiving email [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,69,106,112,185,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple","category-apple-consulting-ct","category-apple-support-ct","category-mac-support-ct","category-mactech","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8841,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8834\/revisions\/8841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}