What to Do When Someone Gets Unauthorized Access to Your Computer

When the unthinkable happens, here’s how to pick up the pieces.

For me, this part was easy: someone had accessed my computer with TeamViewer.

If you’re not familiar with the software, TeamViewer gives someone COMPLETE remote access of a machine.

I needed to do more than just turn off the system.

I couldn’t trust my computer at all.

For less obvious intrusions you’ll need to do a little detective work to find the gateway.

First things first: disconnect it from the internet while you work with it.

Then take a look at your Task Manager or Activity Viewer to look for suspicious activity.

You should be familiar with the processes that run when you’re using certain applications.

Know what kind of CPU and memory usage are normal.

Additionally, look at your web link traffic.

Blake suggests monitoring your system right after booting up.

If you’re able to’t get your machine to boot up,we’ve got you covered.

Enable your virus protection software if it’s disabled, and run a full system scan.

Everything is a suspect.

Change your passwords after an incident like this.

Before you change them, though, check that you’ve removed all malware from your machine.

No point in changing your password when a keylogger is watching your every keystroke.

Again, you want to be as thorough as possible.

With your passwords changed, drop off of every instance of your accounts.

Sign out of every email session, social media session, and whatever else you were logged into.

Make Tech Easier has a handy guide tologging out of Gmail, Facebook, and Dropbox remotely.

It might be a good time for you tosign up for two-factor authenticationtoo, if you haven’t already.

You should also clear your session cookies, cache, history, and other cookies in your internet tool.

Go through your email and look for suspicious activity.

Check and double check everything on your machine for a while to check that the threat really is neutralized.

This does mean, however, that all of your files will be lost.

Just ensure you use a backup that was before the intrusion.

Blake points out that this is the easiest way to make yourself vulnerable.

A misconfigured firewall leaves dangerous ports open and can make your system visible to anyone on the internet.

Once it’s running, check that it’s doing its job properly.

TheHow-To Geek recommendsport scanning your router atShieldsUP!, a web site that tests your router for vulnerabilities.

If there are open or exploitable ports, the site will notify you.

Otherwise, you’re all clear.

Email is a powerful tool for the bad guys.

Blake suggests taking extreme caution with attachments, and to be wary of all types of documents.

Some documents won’t appear to do anything when you have a go at open them.

For some more tips, check out ourguide on detecting phishing scams.

see to it you have a good antivirus software.

Blake also suggests you have an antivirus and anti-malware tool on your machine.

Sometimes one tool can catch something that the other one won’t.

We’ve discussedthe difference between antivirus and anti-malware before.

If you need a good antivirus app for Windows,we recommend Avast!

check that you know your security holes.

There are someweak points that almost everyone is vulnerable to, so get familiar with them.

check that you keep everything up to date: browsers, antivirus applications, and your OS.

If you’re not sure you have the basics covered well enough, check out ouronline security checklist.

Be wary of public Wi-Fi.

Once you connect to a internet that has other people on it,there’s no guarantee of safety.

Chances of an attack are low, but it only takes once for someone snooping to get something useful.

We’ve talked aboutthe safety of public Wi-Fi networks before.

You also want to protect your machine from unwanted physical access.

Always keep your box physically secure and in your sight line.

Backup your machine regularly so you don’t lose all of your data if your machine is stolen.

Encrypt your hard drive if you’re able.

You should also have a remote wipe option enabled for your gear.

Remember, the user is always the weakest link in the security chain (especially in my case).

Always be careful of what you share online and always be on the lookout for social engineering attacks.

Don’t share information with someone unless you are 100% positive you know who it is.

These precautions aren’t foolproof, of course, but they can help lower the chances of unwanted access.

It can feel violating when someone accesses something you’ve deemed private.

Photos by Tina Mailhot-Roberge,Yuri Samoilov,Alexandre Normand.