Whether your email has been hacked, your personal info was part of a data breach or you’re
the victim of identity theft, what happens next is both time sensitive and critical.
Today, we’re going to walk through what is known as the “4 R’s of Hacking Recovery”
that you can use to prepare for an inevitable identity theft or recover from one you’re
going through right now.
This is All Things Secured, my name is Josh and to go along with this video, I have a
free checklist PDF that covers everything we’re going to talk about here which you
can find at AllThingsSecured.com/hacked.
This download and a lot of these ideas were developed in partnership with Andy at The
Secure Dad podcast.
If you’re a parent who cares about the security and privacy of your family, I recommend you
check out this podcast, especially the latest episode where Andy and I discuss our own stories
of having our accounts hacked.
Links to the checklist and the podcast episode can be found in the description of this video.
Alright, let’s assume that you just found out that one of your accounts has been hacked
or your identity has been stolen, which is highly likely, according to Tom O’Malley,
a former federal prosecutor specializing in cybercrime cases:
“I would hazard to guess that practically everybody is a victim of identity theft…”
(3:52)
Ok, if that’s true, what is the first thing you do?
To start, you want to do everything you can to regain control of the affected account
so that you can contain and limit the damage.
And hopefully you know which account or device has been hacked.
You gotta figure that out first.
If you still have access to the account, meaning you can log in yourself, you’ll want to
change the password immediately and shut down any potential threats.
For example, if we’re dealing with fraudulent charges, make sure you can log into your bank
account and cancel the credit card.
If it’s your email account or a social media account, change that password and if it’s
a stolen identity, be sure to lock down your credit by setting up a free credit freeze.
I have a video showing exactly how to do this that I’ll link to below.
Now, if you don’t have access to the account in question, what do you do then?
In other words, what if the attackers have changed the password, essentially locking
you out of your own account?
In this case you need to immediately begin what’s known as an Account Recovery Process.
This looks different for every account, but I’ll put links to the recovery pages for
the most popular companies and if you don’t see what you need there, just Google the name
of the account plus the words account recovery to see what they have.
In many cases, such as with a bank, you’ll probably have to pick up a phone and call
them directly.
Once you’re able to get into your account, there are three changes you need to make.
First, if it’s available, check all the devices that are currently logged into your
account and remove any device that you don’t currently have in your possession.
Usually, you’ll find this in the account settings, probably under security.
For example, in my Google account, which you can get to by clicking your avatar in YouTube
or Gmail, I click on security and scroll down to find “Manage All Devices” where I can
remotely log out any suspicious device.
In my Facebook settings, I click on “Security and Login” and find “Where You’re Logged
In”.
You can log out each device individually or scroll down to log out all devices.
You might not find this with every account, but if it’s available, definitely check
it.
The second change is to immediately add 2-factor authentication on the account.
Again, log into security and add either an authenticator app or a 2FA key if you have
one.
If you need help with this, I’ll have links to my tutorials in the description for both
of these 2FA methodsl
The third step is to do a quick search for any signs of foul play on any of your other
important accounts.
So, for example, if your email was hacked, take a quick glance at your bank account.
You’re just wanting to make sure that you’ve contained the damage from the initial attack.
And now that you’ve done that, we can move on to the next step in the recovery process.
Rectifying potential security threats is the process of making sure that whatever caused
this hack or identity theft can’t be exploited again.
What do I mean by that?
Well, the first question you need to ask yourself is this: “Do I believe that my physical
devices might be compromised in any way?”
“most fraud today is going to come to them through their telephone, uh, or on the computer.”
(16:10)
Did you click on a link that might have downloaded malware on your computer?
Could somebody have uploaded a spy app on your phone?
If you have any suspicion whatsoever that this might be the case, I recommend buying
antivirus software on your laptop or scanning your mobile device using Certo, which I’ve
done a video on before.
You need to run these scans and if you do end up finding something, let’s say there
was a keylogger on your device, then after it’s been removed you’ll need to go back
through and change all your passwords again because the attacker might have seen what
you changed moments ago.
Another part of rectifying potential threats is to take action on any future financial
fraud.
In the case of fraudulent charges, this means calling your bank to reverse the charges and
if you’re in the US, even filing a complaint with the FBI.
I know earlier I mentioned freezing your credit if your identity was stolen, but this is the
part where I tell you that no matter what kind of hack or theft took place…
“the best way you can protect yourself from new account fraud is to freeze your credit
reports because those lenders cannot new lenders cannot access those reports, uh, unless you
specifically authorize that, that is you have to unfreeze your credit.”
(6:03)
Find all the applicable credit bureaus in your country and immediately set up a freeze.
Finally, I get asked all the time whether I recommend buying identity and credit monitoring
services, and usually my answer is that not everybody needs it.
But in this case, if your accounts have already been hacked or your identity has already been
stolen, then investing in a good monitoring service can definitely be worthwhile.
I’ve been testing out a few services over the past couple years and have settled on
Identity Guard as my favorite and the one that I use for my family.
You might remember I did a review of their service a little over a year ago where I shared
my positive experience with the software despite my negative experience with their marketing
team.
Thankfully, the personnel on that team have changed and I’ve built a strong relationship
with the company that gives me even greater confidence to recommend them.
When you use something like Identity Guard, you have the ability to monitor financial
transactions, get notifications for anything over a certain dollar amount, watch changes
in your credit score, monitor the dark web and to cap it all off, protect yourself with
a $1 million dollar identity theft insurance policy.
You already know the stress of being a victim of this kind of attack, and good monitoring
on top of other precautions can limit your risk going forward.
You can find links with a discounted rate for Identity Guard here or in the description.
We’re not done yet!
It’s important that you capitalize on this experience by reviewing your current security
practices.
Are you using strong, unique passwords for all your accounts?
What about 2 factor authentication?
Are you keeping uneccessary accounts open and acrtive?
In one example for me, I had an American Express account that I left active just for the sake
of the credit but I no longer used it.
These kinds of accounts are a huge risk mostly because we don’t log into them often to
know if they’re compromised.
Thankfully I had email notifications turned on to alert me to a fraudulent cardholder
and I immediately closed the account.
What other accounts might you have which increase what’s known as your attack surface?
I also recommend you review the security preferences for your most often-used accounts.
Which apps have access to your GPS?
Which services are connected to your bank account?
Which accounts have personal information such as your address, phone number or credit card
info that don’t need it anymore or never did in the first place?
This review phase might take a bit of time, but it’s worth the effort.
You can also make sure that you’ve created proper backup for your data, your 2FA and
emergency access in the event of your passing.
Last but not least, it’s time to repair the damage.
This is the time when, if you haven’t already, you share with your friends and family what
happened.
It may seem embarrassing, but alerting your network that you’ve been scammed or hacked
not only helps be on the lookout for downstream scams, it might also inspire them to take
measures to protect themselves as well.
I hate to say it, but sometimes no matter how much security we built for ourselves,
the weakest link ends up being a spouse or family member.
So what are you waiting for?
Get moving.
Set up a credit freeze following this tutorial here and download a printable checklist covering
everything mentioned in this video right here.