Invitation virus

805Sharie

A few weeks ago I received an email from a trusted friend, saying I was invited to an event. I clicked on the link, and attempted to log into the site with no success. Regardless, it seems like a virus was attached to the email and replicated itself to all contacts associated with the email account. I’ve heard from a number of people who received “invitations” from me, and were unable to log into to see the (nonexistent) event.

Any suggestions how to rectify this? Many thanks.

Alexandru_BD

Hello @805Sharie and welcome to the Community.

It sounds like your email account was compromised by a phishing scam. I'll share some steps that may help to rectify the situation and mitigate any further damage:

• Immediately change the password of your email account. Ensure the new password is strong and unique.
• If your email provider offers 2FA, enable it to add an extra layer of security.
• Inform your contacts that your email was compromised, and warn them not to click on any links from the previous email. Apologize for any inconvenience caused.
• Use Bitdefender to scan your computer for any malware or viruses. Remove any threats detected.
• Ensure your operating system, browser, and any antivirus software are up to date with the latest security patches.
• Look for any changes that may have been made by the attacker, such as auto-forwarding rules or linked accounts.
• Check for any devices or applications that have unauthorized access to your account and remove them.
• Report the phishing incident to your email provider. They may offer additional steps to secure your account and help prevent further issues.

Adopt best practices for email security, such as not clicking on links from unknown sources and verifying the legitimacy of emails before responding. At first glance, an email may seem legitimate, but if you look closer, usually there are always hints that something is off. It's good practice to use a different channel to communicate with the sender and ask them to confirm if they've sent anything to you via email.

Detailed steps for common email providers

Gmail:

• Go to your Google Account settings.
• Under "Security," change your password and enable 2FA.
• Review "Recent security activity" and "Manage devices" for any suspicious activity.
• Check "Settings" > "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" for any unauthorized forwarding addresses.

Outlook:

• Sign in to your Microsoft account.
• Change your password and enable 2FA.
• Go to "Security" > "Advanced security options" to review recent activity.
• Check "Mail" > "Rules" for any unauthorized rules set up.

By following these steps, you should be able to secure your email account and minimize the risk of further issues.

I hope the information is helpful.

Regards,

Alex

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/338931#Comment_338931

And for Yahoo, you can check on below shared links:

https://help.yahoo.com/kb/sln27051.html

https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN2073.html

Also, check on the below stated steps:

1) Open the Run command and execute the following commands one by one:

temp - delete all the files in the folder

%temp% - delete all the files in the folder

prefetch - delete all the files in the folder

2) Reset the Windows host file to default. You can find instructions here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-reset-the-hosts-file-back-to-the-default-c2a43f9d-e176-c6f3-e4ef-3500277a6dae

3) Run Disk Cleanup using this guide: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/disk-cleanup-in-windows-8a96ff42-5751-39ad-23d6-434b4d5b9a68

Regards

805Sharie

Many thanks for these wonderful suggestions. I appreciate your detailed instructions!

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/339052#Comment_339052

Let us know if your issue has been resolved.

Regards