9th December 2022
How To Tell If You’ve Been Hacked: 20 Warning Signs
Hackers are notoriously sneaky. Signs that you’ve been victimised by cyber criminals can be obvious — or completely unnoticeable.
Either way, the sooner you recognize the warning signs of a hack, the faster you can work to secure your accounts and minimise the damage hackers can do.
Some of the warning signs that you’ve been hacked include:
1. You get signed out of your online accounts (social media, email, online banking, etc.), or you try to log in and discover your passwords don’t work anymore.
2. You receive emails or text messages about login attempts, password resets, or two-factor authentication (2FA) codes that you didn’t request.
3. You see logins from devices and locations you don’t recognize in your account activity or sign-in logs.
4. You notice strange emails in your “Sent” folder.
5. You start to receive spam emails — especially ones that specifically threaten or try to extort you.
6. Friends or family members tell you they’ve received strange messages from your email or social media accounts.
7. You receive a data breach notification from a company or service that you use.
8. You suddenly receive pop-ups that claim your device is infected with a virus.
9. Your devices slow down, heat up, or start to crash more often.
10. You notice browser plugins, add-ons, or toolbars that you didn’t install.
11. You get redirected to unwanted websites, or they open automatically behind your browser window.
12. Your cursor starts moving by itself — when you haven’t touched the mouse or trackpad.
13. There are suspicious charges on your credit card or bank statements.
14. Business partners or potential clients say they’ve had strange interactions with you on platforms that you don’t use.
15. You get a ransomware pop-up on your computer saying your data is encrypted and you need to pay a ransom.
16. Your web camera light is on, even when you’re not using it for video calls or recordings.
17. Your antivirus software is disabled when you haven’t changed anything.
18. You have to keep closing or quitting apps that open on their own.
19. Your cryptocurrency wallet is suddenly missing funds (similar to what these Coinbase customers went through).
20. Someone has stolen your identity and is using it to commit fraud in your name (opening new bank accounts, issuing new credit cards, taking out loans, making insurance claims, etc.).
Being able to recognize the signs of a hack dramatically improves your chances of avoiding a hack or recovering from an attack. Unfortunately, most people ignore the warning signs of a cyberattack until it’s too late.