Q&A for How to Know if You've Been Hacked

One sign that you've been hacked is if all of a sudden you start to see your inbox flooded with repetitive emails. However, if you change your password, you'll lock the hacker out of your account. To check whether your email address has been included in a data breach, visit a site like haveibeenpwned.com. They'll tell you whether your data has been exposed, as well as which sites may have been involved in the breach. Another way you might be able to tell whether you've been hacked is if you start to see fraudulent charges on your bank statements or credit cards. To prevent that, sign up for alerts that will inform you every time a purchase is made on one of your accounts.

Yes, that's normal. Corruption of data can happen if you shut down the PC during an update.

It's entirely possible, yes. If you're worried about this, cover your computer's webcam with a sticky note when not in use.

Possibly. More likely you have downloaded something that contained a virus, and it is using up your computer’s resources.

You have been hacked. Look in your email address that is connected to your account and look for an email from the company that tells you that your account has been accessed. If you see unauthorized activity, change your passwords immediately.

If a hacker put something in your computer to make you think you've been hacked, you actually have been hacked.

No. Unless you follow a link that is malicious, you should be safe on YouTube

No, it's only if you click on a link and/or an attachment that is in the suspicious email.

It is most likely a hacker who has hacked your account and is using your email address book to send bogus emails like the one your friend received. Run some antivirus software on your computer, and notify everyone in your address book not to open any emails from you unless they're sure it's from you.

It depends on what is running. Sometimes it might be a faulty connection which means its not responding. Install virus checker software.

Extremely unlikely. Unless you go onto your web browser and download things from websites or get your device jailbroken.

You could look at the file that might be suspicious, and use a de-compiler to see the code. That way you could see if there is a key logger, or a RAT. If you let your browser save your passwords and you have a rat (If there isn't a key logger), then he can see them. Also you might be able to track them by their IP address.

The only thing you can do is to pass along any relevant information to the police but without significant proof, they can't do much. In the meantime, upgrade your security and change all your passwords etc. Hacks are very rarely carried out by someone you know unless they have direct access to your computer and/or passwords.

Has your ex ever been involved with computers? If not, then maybe they are just trying to scare you. Be careful, and try not to use online banking. If you think your ex is the cause of the watching and is stalking you, you should contact the authorities.

It depends on what you use for an email. Usually if you go to the settings, there should be a Change Password option.

Power down your computer. Run it in safe mode (simple google search will help you with this as not all computers can go into safe mode the same way), and download "malwarebytes" and run the program. It should do a scan for common malware. Then you can install your antivirus again using your activation code.

Install a trial version of a program like Norton. Do a full scan on your computer, and it will try its best to detect and remove viruses. There is a small chance that it won't find the virus, but a full scan is better than nothing.

If your antivirus has marked it as deleted, your tablet is fine, but you should still do daily scans.

Probably not. It may just be a glitch with the graphics driver and/or the display itself. You should try to revert back to an old graphics card driver and see if the problem is solved.

Usually hacking on Facebook is obvious because there will be messages present that you didn't send, statuses you didn't post, or photos you didn't share.

Not entirely; the hacker might still have access to your router and/or modem. If you're worried that the hacker has access to your connection, do the following: reset your router and modem. Then, contact your ISP to change your IP address. This way, the hacker will have the wrong IP if he has access to it. After that, you're pretty much safe, but if you're still worried that you're hacked, configure a proxy and/or VPN. This'll hide your IP when you browse the internet. Also, set up a password and WPA2 for your connection, if you already don't have one of those. After that, reset your PC again.

If it has a lock in the corner and says "Facebook.com" on the bar, then no, it has not been hacked. If it doesn't, you're on the wrong website and risk being hacked.

Don't open files from people that you do not know. Files that end in .scr are typically screensavers. Most computers don't have a program to open and view .scr files regularly. This means you could have just as easily downloaded a screensaver and tried to view it as a normal picture file. Typically this will not work and computers will attempt to download a program to properly view the file. To be sure, I recommend running a scan with an anti-virus program.

Very low, as iPhones are very secure from being hacked. Your iPhone can't be hacked, but your accounts can.

Most likely not. If you clicked on a .bat file, that is perfectly normal. If it happened without your actions' influence, still doubtful.

Yes, you can.

All accounts can be hacked, so yes, they can. If this ever happens, change your password and set up two-step verification.

You're probably fine. The screen going blank was probably just a glitch, but if you're worried, download an antivirus app and scan your tablet. If nothing comes up, you're fine.

Usually this will not be the system itself sending this message to you. Most Microsoft/Apple iOS programs will automatically send emails to their necessary contact for you. They may also ask for permission to send if it is set up to ask before sending. If the "System security alert" shows and takes you to system settings then it will be the computer. It would be best at this point to setup your Anti-Virus software to scan on a 32x+ clear. Only doing the 1x, 2x, 4x, or 8x pass does not always help it detect hidden viruses. The 32x or 128x are a lot longer and are a lot more thorough. McAfee or Avast are great recommended antivirus.

You should be, see How to Remove a Virus for help with removing the virus.