First of all, it is always good to scan your systems with reputable anti-malware programs. Anti-malware programs may not be perfect, but good and reputable ones should be able to detect the kind of malware as described in the email. Also, have a look at your data uploads and downloads from your network. Are there any significant changes there ? If someone is hacking webcam and transferring the data back to their server, there should be significant changes in network usage.
There were quite a number of data breaches in the past, linkedin and yahoo breaches are to mention a few of them. Attackers often share hacked data and once they get email address and password of one user from a data breach, they try to use them for phishing purpose, as many users reuse old passwords or do not change passwords often. Often criminals hack a website and get email address and passwords of users of that website. But, if those user account do not contain enough sensitive data, the criminals try to make money by using those email addresses and passwords to extort money from those users by sending out emails like this.
This particular email is a phishing scam. Attackers typically try to extort money from users by sending this scary email.
However, if a user gets any email of similar kind, here is what he/she should do :
– Scan your systems thoroughly with good and reputable anti-malware programs.
– Look at your network usage. Are there any significant changes recently ?
– Is the password mentioned in the email an old password that you often reuse ? Anyways, it is always good to change old passwords and not to reuse the same password in multiple websites.
– Configure firewalls in your system. It is always good to give permission to use internet only to limited applications. And, close all unused ports.
– Think twice before sharing anything in social networking websites.
– It is always a good practice to browse websites from a Virtual Machine. If you suspect malware, simple go back to a previously saved image of the Virtual Machine and destroy the current one.
– If you are visiting unknown website, you can think of using script blockers.
– Enable 2 Factor Authentication wherever it is possible. (What is 2 Factor Authentication and why should we always enable it ?)
Hope the answer helps.
Related articles :
What is a Remote Access Trojan ?
What is a Creepware ?
How to prevent keyloggers ?
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