Getting hacked is not like it is in the movies. When you click on an infected file, your computer does not go dark and show a skull and crossbones; in most cases it is simply business as usual. Many will continue going about their daily routine without being aware that their information is being stolen.<\/p>\n
This is why it is important to know the signs to look out for so you know when malware or a virus has gained access to your computer.<\/p>\n
If your computer has slowed down for no discernable reason you should contact your IT department immediately. This is not to say it is cause for alarm if your 10-year old computer does not download files as quickly as it used to, as devices do tend to slow down over time. But sudden, significant and long-term drops in performance should be taken seriously. Running malware takes a lot of processing power.<\/p>\n
When malware enters your system, it wants to stay there for as long as possible. To ensure this, it may disable your antivirus programs. If you find your program is disabled or won\u2019t run a scan if you ask it to, this is cause for concern.<\/p>\n
In addition to wanting to stay awhile, malware likes to invite more friends to join the party. New programs you don\u2019t remember downloading or new add-ons to your browser are an easy-to-spot sign that that something is wrong.<\/p>\n
With a good ad-blocker, you should get very few pop-ups in your daily life. If you suddenly are getting inundated with pop-up ads, no matter how legit they look, something is wrong.<\/p>\n
This one is pretty simple: if people on your contacts list let you know they received your email with an \u201cawesome offer\u201d or a program they \u201cneed to try,\u201d something is wrong. Unless of course you remember sending an all-company email about the wonders of male enhancement drugs.<\/p>\n
Once you have enough signs your computer has fallen victim to a malware or virus attack, don\u2019t panic. The first thing to do is to run a virus scan; this can be done by an already installed program or an on-demand scanner.<\/p>\n
You may also need to perform a complete system reset. Hopefully you have been backing up all of your data (most of us do, especially when at work).<\/p>\n
Finally, make sure to change all your passwords. This is especially important if you use the same password for a number of programs.<\/p>\n
Determining a hack has taken place is just the first step. But the sooner you can figure out that something is wrong, the better the outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Getting hacked is not like it is in the movies. When you click on an infected file, your computer does not go dark and show a skull and crossbones; in most cases it is simply business as usual. Many will continue going about their daily routine without being aware that their information is being stolen….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"schema":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digitaltechnology"],"yoast_head":"\n