How to Recognize A Computer Hack? 9 Signs To Be Aware Of

Whether you apply all 22 cybersecurity tips on our site, or you don’t care about online security at all, you’re certainly one of the target for hackers. Remember that it’s only a matter of time before your devices get compromised. (Note: Even when the situation above is true, cybersecurity tips are still very beneficial). To minimize data and financial loss, you should be able to recognize a computer hack. Let’s find out what the signs are.

1. Someone Else Controls Your Computer

If you found your cursor, keyboard, printer, or any peripheral is misbehaving, something is seriously wrong with your computer. However, try to look at what the mouse point to and what keys are pressed. If they sound reasonable without you making these inputs, this is a clear sign that you’ve been hacked. Hackers could be remotely controlling your computer in this case!

If there are just random movements of your cursor, that might be a glitch on your mouse instead of a computer hack.

Furthermore, your camera and microphone might be recording your activities. The camera light is an indicator that it’s in use. Still, attackers can disable the light and pretend that they’re not taking photos of you! Moreover, your printer or removable drives may be behaving abnormally, and those are warning signs, too.

In that case, take a photo and shut down the computer. An operating system won’t do that unless it’s hacked.

2. Your Files or Settings are Modified Without Authorization

Let’s accept this: Digging into your system as deep as possible with your file manager is beneficial. If you found strange filenames, try to find them on a search engine. Hopefully, an authoritative site can provide reliable information about whether it’s malware or not.

If unknown files are installed, files are deleted without your permission, or you see a change in settings that you didn’t do (and is not associated with an update), this is a definite sign that you’ve been hacked.

3. Unknown Redirects Are Present

Let’s say you’re searching for the latest NASA news, but it redirects you to a website that needs you to provide your bank information before proceeding! Even worse, your browser new-tab page has changed without your knowledge! You would feel that something is unusual. It is.

Everything you’re browsing on the Internet relies on IP addresses, not domain names. Then, how does a user type in a domain name to get to the website? The DNS translates these human-readable strings to IP addresses, after which the computer can make a request.

However, the DNS records can be poisoned, either on your server or your computer. Why would your PC store IP addresses? Well, DNS requests spend some time, so browsers save the address once it’s visited. But, the record on your computer can be modified without authorization if your device is hacked.

4. Your Computer Overheats and Works Slowly for No Reason

Let’s say your computer works slowly like a snail or overheats when you’re running some very light tasks (such as opening File Explorer). In that case, it might mean that you have malware!

When malicious programs are doing some nasty things on your gadget, it takes up some resources, so they can potentially crash the system. While some programs may limit their usage and let themselves run secretly, others may use up a lot of system resources. Thus, they may cause the device to slow down and overheat.

When you notice one of the symptoms, try opening Task Manager (or Activity Monitor for Mac). If you see unknown processes or if they’re blocked at all, your computer has malware. If the high resource usage is caused by a program you know, try reinstalling it. However, if that doesn’t solve the problem, the computer likely has malicious programs.

5. Your Passwords Are Incorrect

Suppose you try to log in to your computer or your accounts and found that the “correct” password in your mind is, in fact, incorrect. In that case, feel free to type the password again since there may be typos in your passcode. But, if you’re confident that it’s the right password, you should recognize that your computer or accounts are suffering from a hack.

If this happens, your only solution is to try to recover your password. Click “Forgot Password” and follow the onscreen instructions to reset your password. If you’re lucky, you can get your account and your precious data back.

Other than changing passwords without your permission or knowledge, some mysterious activities (e.g., logins that you don’t recognize) are an undeniable clue of a hack.

6. There Are Mysterious Online Activities

Let’s say you are checking your mailbox. You looked at the “Sent” folder and saw email entries you didn’t send. Therefore, you thought that something unusual is happening, and this is the correct direction. That means someone was controlling your email account. That also applies to social media and messaging accounts.

What’s worse than that are unknown transactions. If you see unusual ones in your transaction records, you should contact your bank immediately. If you’re lucky, your bank will reverse the transaction because they found it illegal.

7. There Are Antivirus Warnings (Whether Real or Fake)

When you browse your computer, a notification suddenly pops up! It says there’s a threat on your computer! You may be too scared and clicked on the notification, and it ends up installing more malware on your device!

Please double-check that with your genuine antivirus software. If the warning appears on the real one, you should recognize a computer hack, run a further scan, and erase the device if necessary.

8. Random Popups Appear

Let’s say you’re dealing with a text document. Suddenly, you encountered a UAC (User Account Control) message saying that an unknown program wants to grant access to your system files! In that case, don’t click yes or no, take a photo with your phone, and shut down the computer as quickly as possible. If there’s no real damage, the UAC hopefully saved your computer from immediate catastrophe, but the device still contains malware.

Other than these scary types of messages, there are overly attractive ones that you should be aware of. For instance, if you see a message saying that you won a competition that you didn’t even participate in, there may be some malware on your device.

Or if you see some more frightening prompts like “Install this antivirus, or your computer will be erased”, don’t do anything. Take a photo and turn off the computer immediately. A normal app never does that.

Then, why do you need to take photos? Well, the information in the photo can let you do some Google Searches before further action. Furthermore, if you need to get professional advice, having what message was shown is very useful.

9. There Are Startup Problems or Strange Glitches

If a piece of malware is hiding deep enough, it might cause problems with your operating system. For instance, if the software deletes some critical files, it might prevent the computer from booting after a restart.

Moreover, the malware may modify some registry or settings or simply use up too many system resources. Therefore, you might start noticing some strange glitches on your computer.

Whether you can repair this or not, one of the reasons for these errors is malware. That means your computer may be hacked or infected.

Conclusion

So, here are 9 signs to help you recognize a computer hack. These are all something that a normal operating system shouldn’t do. Remember to know that you’re a target for attackers. Part of your defense is to know about a computer hack as soon as possible. If you’re experiencing these symptoms, look at this guide to remove the malware.

Moreover, you should know more. If you can make up your own points, let us know in the comments. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a starting point, try looking at the references in this article.

References and Credits

1. Roger A. Grimes. (2020, August 6). 15 signs you’ve been hacked—and how to fight back | CSO Online. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.csoonline.com/article/2457873/signs-youve-been-hacked-and-how-to-fight-back.html
2. (n.d.). 12 Easy Ways to Know If Your Computer Is Being Hacked. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://brightside.me/inspiration-tips-and-tricks/12-easy-ways-to-know-if-your-computer-is-being-hacked-379860/
3. (2020, July 28). Signs that your computer has been hacked. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v109569350
4. (2020, December 11). How to tell if your computer or phone has been hacked. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.ccleaner.com/knowledge/how-to-tell-if-your-computer-or-phone-has-been-hacked
5. Kim Komando. (2018, May 4). 7 clear-cut signs you’ve been hacked. Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2018/05/04/has-your-computer-phone-been-hacked-heres-how-tell/559136002/