The last thing in the world I want to hear from a client is, “I did something really stupid,” because sometimes I am inclined to agree with them. This was the case the other day. I received a very distraught call in the middle of the afternoon. My client sputtered, “I should have known better, but I just wasn’t thinking.” She went on to tell me that she received a phone call from someone who alerted her to the fact that something was wrong with her computer and that he had to remote in to fix it.
What makes this situation a bit puzzling is that she uses a Mac, and most of these fake callers say they are from Microsoft. Now for the truly terrifying part: She proceeded to let a complete stranger remotely access her computer for about an hour.
I won’t go into the recriminations she must be feeling. While I tried to offer as much comfort as possible, I am quite embarrassed that one of my clients would not think to call me, or at least tell the person calling that “I already have a computer guy who takes care of this for me.” But that is not the point of this security brief. I need to concentrate your attention on what has to happen after this atrocious event.