Nemerte

Answer honestly; nobody sees this but you. The result is the three things worth doing first, not a score.

Do the first one this week. Come back and answer again in a month.

Paste the link the Share button gave you. This reads what the link itself gives away and points you to the setting that controls who can open it. Nothing is opened or sent.

1. Share to named people, not "anyone with the link." A link in a group chat gets forwarded; a name doesn't.
2. Give it an end date. Most services let you set one. A link from 2023 should not still work.
3. Check the folder, not just the file. Sharing a folder shares everything that lands in it later.

Once a quarter: open your Drive or OneDrive's "Shared" view and remove links you no longer need.

1. Tap Deny. Every time. Approving once "to make it stop" is the whole trick. The prompts will end on their own.
2. Don't answer a call about it. The follow-up call from "IT" or "the bank" telling you to approve is the same attacker.
3. Change that password now, from a device you trust, then sign out everywhere. Pick the app below for the exact page.

A flood of approval requests means your password already leaked, usually from another site where you reused it. The approvals are the last lock. Any site that shared that password needs a new one too.

These links are typed by us, not taken from any message you received. Check the address bar shows the company's own name before you type a password.

A QR code is a link you can't read. Point your camera at it, but don't tap. Copy the address the camera shows and paste it here, or drop a screenshot of the code. Nothing is opened or sent anywhere.

• Parking meters and pay stations. A sticker over the real code. Pay at the machine or in the city's own app.
• Restaurant tables and menus. Ask for a paper menu if the link asks for a card before you've ordered.
• Emails and PDFs. A code inside an email exists to get around link filters. Treat it as a link from a stranger.
• Flyers, posters, "package waiting" notices. Type the company's real address yourself.

If you already opened it and typed anything: change that password from another device, and if you paid, call your card issuer now. Cards can be reversed for a while; wire transfers mostly can't.

No real website, update, or "are you human" check ever asks you to open the Run box or Terminal and paste. The thing on your clipboard is the attack. This box reads it and says what it would do. Nothing you paste here runs or leaves this device.

1. Close that browser tab. Don't press Enter anywhere.
2. Clear your clipboard by copying any plain word, so it can't be pasted by accident.
3. If you already ran it: turn off Wi-Fi, then from a different device change your email and bank passwords, and tell whoever handles your IT. Saved browser passwords are the first thing these steal.

How it looks

• A "Verify you are human" box with numbered steps that mention Win+R, Ctrl+V, Enter.
• A fake error ("document failed to load", "browser needs an update") with a Fix button.
• Sometimes on a real site that was hacked, so the address bar looks fine.

1. Hang up. Say you'll call back. A real boss is fine with that; a fake one will push.
2. Call back on the number you already have (below), not the one that just called you.
3. Ask for the code word. If you haven't set one yet, set it after this call, in person.

A voice can be copied from a few seconds of a podcast, a voicemail greeting, or a video on your site. Sounding right proves nothing. Only the callback does.

The tells

• Money, gift cards, or a password has to move now.
• "Don't tell anyone" or "I'm in a meeting, just text me."
• Calling from a new number, or the caller ID looks right but the story doesn't.
• Slight delay before answers; odd pauses; won't take a question off-script.

Add the people who could ever ask you to move money, with the number you've used before. This stays on this device only.

1. Turn off their email and shared-drive login on the last day, not the week after.
2. Change any password they knew that other people also use (bank portal, vendor sites, Wi-Fi).
3. Remove them from payment approvals and the company card.
4. Move their files to whoever takes over before the account closes.
5. Take their phone number off the account-recovery settings for any business login.
6. Tell your bank and key vendors who the new contact is, by phone, not by email.