Hello friends,
My mom panicked and called a 1-888 number where an Indian man with an unremarkably American name convinced her to install a remote software. My mom started to get suspicious and woke me up when he started asking for bank info. I’m not too sure what he did when he got remote access, but I ran RKILL, Malware Bytes w/ Rootscan kit scan, and ADWCleaner8 . My mom alerted her banks and our phone provider, but aside from activating 2fa and resetting her bank passwords is there anything else I should get her to do? Any way to educate her on what links are safe to click and such?
If they got on the system, get a Police Report perhaps as a means of documentation for any credit issues (assuming any sensitive information was potentially leaked). You could also alert the credit agencies.
From the technical side, I’m a very better same then sorry kind of guy when it comes to this kind of stuff, so I rather nuke the system and remove any trace of any programs they may have. Most of these scammers aren’t dropping RATs but it’s not a risk I’m taking.
You are at the crossroads now that we all are at. How do we convince the previous generations not to click on anything they see? Call me ridiculous for this, but I will say it: humanity is an inquisitive species. I mean, the Melissa only spread because we click on literally everything!
Common logic helps here, IMO. Microsoft isn’t going to call you because you’ve got a problem with your system. Why would they send you this notification over your internet browser or email?
As for long term protection, I find AdBlock tools are a given at this point, regardless of what sites will say (YouTube cough cough). If ad services aren’t going to properly filter incoming ads for JS Redirect Attacks, how can I trust any of your ads in any way?