You clicked something you wish you had not — the first hour
Exactly which three things matter after a bad click, and in what order.
Almost every one of these ends up being nothing at all. Opening a page is, on its own, very rarely enough to cause harm.
What matters is entirely about what came next. There are four possibilities, and they need four different amounts of attention:
Key points
- Ask the only question that matters: what did I type, and what did I install
- Change a password and sign out everywhere, from a device you trust
- Say why opening a page is not the same as being caught
What to remember
- Change the password first, from a device you trust. Everything else on the list can wait an hour; that cannot.
- The click is a doorway, not a wound. What you typed or installed is the only question that matters.
Try this
Decide now who your first telephone call would be — the person you would ring and say "I think I have been caught by something". Having a name in mind is what turns a three-day silence into a ten-minute conversation.
Practice: You clicked something you wish you had not — the first hour. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.