While you can’t eliminate the risk of being a victim of cybercrime, you can control how you react if your identity, accounts, devices or information is compromised. Responding quickly and comprehensively limits the damage from being hacked, facilitates a rapid recovery and provides you with some needed peace of mind.
So, let’s look at common cyber-attack scenarios and the steps you should immediately take afterward.
Identity Theft
Scenario: You receive notice from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) indicating your CRA account details have been recently changed or modified. You did not make any recent adjustments to your personal information or credentials held on file with CRA and it is possible that a bad actor is attempting to file a tax return in your name.
What are your next steps?
- Report suspicious activity to the CRA:
- Contact Canada’s credit bureau agencies to report the incident.
- You can request a copy of your credit report from each agency, which can be reviewed for unauthorized activity. You can also inquire about the addition of fraud warnings on your credit file, which would direct any potential creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts under your information (fees may apply).
- Each credit bureau agency can be contacted via the following information:
- Continue to monitor your existing lines of credit for signs of account fraud.
- Keep a record of and close any fraudulent account opened using your credit information immediately.
- Report fraudulent accounts to police, the fraud department of the credit card company or bank involved, as well as the major credit bureaus.
- Report fraudulent accounts to police, the fraud department of the credit card company or bank involved, as well as the major credit bureaus.
- If you suspect that your Social Insurance Number has been stolen or is being used fraudulently, you can report the incident by contacting Service Canada:
- Report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre:
Hacked Email Account
Scenario: You start hearing from your contacts saying they’re getting emails from your email account asking them to wire money to you, or maybe click on a suspicious link. It appears that a cybercriminal may have stolen your email password and now has access to your account.
What are your next steps?
- Use a reputable antivirus product to remove any malware infection on your devices.
- Ensure you also have the latest versions of your browser, operating system and software on your devices.
- Change your email password to something lengthy, randomized and unique. (Make sure to do it from a clean, malware-free device.) Consider using a password manager to create and securely store your passwords.
- Use Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as another layer of protection to help confirm your identity and protect access to your accounts.
- Look for unusual activity with your social media accounts and check your email filters for any changes to your account (such as emails being set to auto-forward).
- Make sure any other online accounts that use your hacked email address as the account’s registration address haven’t been impacted.
- Alert your contacts about the attack. Remind them to ignore suspicious emails and avoid clicking on links in emails.
- Review any specific guidance given by your email provider about restoring your account.
Computer Infected by Malware
Scenario: Strange ads start popping up on your computer. It’s running slower than normal, too. It could be that you fell prey to an online scam and clicked on a link you shouldn’t have, or perhaps downloaded content from an untrustworthy site.
It’s likely that malicious software has taken control of your machine.
What are your next steps?
- Use a reputable antivirus product to clean up the malware infection on your devices.
- Contact an IT or computer professional to remove the malware if the problem persists after using your antivirus product. This is especially true of ransomware, a type of malware that locks your device or encrypts your electronic files and demands a ransom to have them restored.
- Make sure your operating system, browsers and software are up to date. Turn on automatic updates when available as these upgrades often include important security enhancements.
Change the passwords on any online accounts used while your computer was infected. Be sure to create your new passwords from a malware-free device – not your infected computer.
Phone Number Hijacked or Ported
Scenario: Your cell phone suddenly stops working. You can’t text or make calls or even receive messages. You may be the victim of a phone porting scam. You feel panicked. So much of your life is connected to that phone.
What’s more, you have all of your financial accounts set up with multi-factor authentication, with a one-time passcode sent to you via SMS. This means the fraudster could intercept the passcode and possibly infiltrate your accounts.
What are your next steps?
- Contact your mobile carrier and financial institutions immediately to let them know that a porting attack (which happens when a fraudster convinces your mobile carrier to transfer your number to a new device) has occurred.
- Help protect yourself from future attacks by requesting your carrier add additional security measures whenever a porting change has been requested. Many carriers will let you set a passcode for your account so that anyone who calls to make changes will have to provide the passcode.
Getting Support after a Cyber Attack
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, helpless or even violated after you’ve been hacked. However, taking immediate corrective measures can alleviate the damage following a breach, and allow you to feel back in control.
Also, your Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor is prepared to assist you with securing your financial accounts and can direct you to other resources for additional help.