Millions of Americans have had their personal information exposed over the past ten years with thousands of small- and large-scale hacks responsible for most. Maybe you opened an email you shouldn’t have or maybe a company that you do business with was vulnerable to cyber attacks. Either way, now you need to figure out what the next steps are and how to protect yourself moving forward.
If it is your personal computer that is compromised, then there are several steps you should take to rectify the situation.
- Isolate the computer so it can not interact with other networks. This will prevent the hacker from continuing to be able to obtain files and other information.
- Shutdown and remove the hard drive to stop it from damaging other files. If you don’t feel comfortable removing a hard drive yourself or you don’t have a spare computer then you may want to take your computer to a reputable professional who can help you.
- Scan for Problems – Using antivirus, anti spyware and anti malware, scan for problems once your drive has been placed in a secondary computer. Remove all problems from the hard drive.
- Back up important files if you have not already done so. Copy to a clean drive.
- Decide on what to do with the old drive. Talk to a professional about scanning, cleaning and replacing the old hard drive back into your computer once it has been dealt with and can be reused safely and without threat to your system.
- Reload the operating system and all security measures. Update software wherever possible to have the most recent security protocols available.
If you are a business owner and you have been hacked it is best to call in the professionals for a thorough investigation, notification to clients and solution to getting your system up and running again. If you have hacking issues or want to avoid them call M&H Consulting today at 1-(866)-964-8324 or visit our website M&H Consults
Categorised in: antimalware, antispyware, hacking