412th Communications Squadron
Veda didn’t have time to update software and regularly clicked “Remind Me Later” on her computer and phone. After her son played an online game, she noticed her computer was running slow. At first, she thought it must be her Wi-Fi running slowly and figured it wasn’t a big deal.
Until one day, Veda noticed that her browser looked different, and she was locked out of several of her online accounts. Soon she noticed that money had been withdrawn from her bank account without her knowledge.
A bank manager suggested her computer may have been hacked and a criminal got her information. She ran a virus scan on her computer and discovered malware had been downloaded. After some research, she realized this had likely come from her son clicking on a link which led to an infected website. The malware then exploited a known security flaw in the older operating system she was using.
The local repair shop helped her remove the malware from her computer. They also updated her operating system to the newest version, which had fixed the security flaw. They helped her set up automatic updates so she wouldn’t have another incident like this one. Now Veda rests easy knowing everything will update for her, and her devices are more secure.
Keeping software up to date is an easy way to stay safer online. To make it even more convenient, turn on automatic updates.