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January 17th, 2025 18:45
Socially-engineered intrusion.
Yesterday my sister voluntarily gave up (remote) access to her computer as well as some financial information. Her bank has told her to get her laptop cleaned. The presumed best advice is to backup personal data, wipe drive and then reinstall data.
My question is: Could that data be dangerous to the new install even if it survives a thorough AV scan before restoring it ? Also could there be other malware still on the laptop and would a (Critical) BIOS update remove that potentiality ? Thanks for the help. Bill
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ejn63
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January 17th, 2025 20:07
Before you wipe the system, run a deep scan with Malwarebytes (the free edition will do fine) -- it can pick up anything present before you start.
ejn63
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January 17th, 2025 19:13
Anything left on the system will be cleared by a clean install of Windows. That said, any passwords that were stored on the computer should be immediately changed.
Maxd1
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January 17th, 2025 19:44
Thanks. No pws stored. Was concerned about a BIOS rootkit or similar. ta
Maxd1
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January 17th, 2025 20:04
I was concerned about rootkits or other.
Maxd1
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January 18th, 2025 15:20
Thanks for that reply. Makes sense > don't want anything interfering with a re-set if that's the way it goes down. I think I'll run Shields Up as well to see what was done to her third-party firewall. Thanks again for sharing your expertise.
Lesson learned: You can have all the security that you want installed but if *you* open the door by being a trusting soul you're in for a big headache attempting to clean up.
Maxd1
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January 23rd, 2025 14:58
Just an update. Your suggestion to run MBAM was sufficient to ease my anxiety about the reset. All went smooth. She moved away from her email provider as well. System rebuilt. Now the hard work begins. Thanks a lot for the help. Bill