I've been hacked, both my phone and Macbook have been compromised, the hackers have stolen many thousands of dollars and in order for the financial institution to honor their money back guarantee they require me to submit verification of the remote access etc. I'm told this was a very sophisticated group, so much so, the computer shop wasn't able to determine the software used only that the computer showed signs of intrusion. If anyone can recommend service that can help please share. Thank you.

Between these 2 passwords, which is more secure:

1. Myfuzzydoghasfleas1!234

2. My fuzzy dog has fleas 1!234

Does not having spaces make a password more resistant to a dictionary attack? or does having a longer password make up for this?

Thanks

I was trying to go to the Beverly Hills website and accidentally ended up on beveryhills.org. It’s just a blank website but a message pops up really fast in the beginning. Is this website dangerous? I went there on my iPhone and Android tablet so I’m paranoid! 😭 I tried using the Norton Safeweb website to scan it and it said ”Safe,” but I’ve heard that tool isn’t that good. Is there a way to scan the website?

EDIT: I used urlvoid like the little help information below the comment box said, and it says the domain was registered 12 years ago and all of the scanning websites it brings up say nothing found. So maybe it is just someone’s random blank website and I was paranoid for no reason.

I truly need some help. I know that my roommate gave my cell phone information to leader in a church small group who was a communications specialist in the air force. They have been watching my phone for four months, because of something I did but would rather not say on here. I just want this to stop. i have nothing but hearsay as evidence, and no one will believe me because of what I did.

I need help getting evidence off of my phone to continue pursuing this.

My main account was recently hacked over night. Problem is I haven’t been on sketchy sites, i didn’t download anything recently. I have an apple device that only access’s my Reddit account. I have deleted my main account out of fear (they hacked my main account but it was tied to a throw away gmail) I’m confused on if a bot hacked me or a real person they kept spam posting to NSFW subreddits and each of their posts were banned. I didn’t know what they were posting. I’m scared because I’ve never been hacked before and I’m not sure how to protect the account I’m on right now.

I have way more proof ive got rid of so many phones and have more photos i could share but just then in the middle of nowhere connecting to my mums hotspot these connections come up, and this ruijie-bB9B8 i noticed popping up when id try to connect my xbox to wifi back in 2025 and this connection lan from snowy river.

I dont know how to get rid of these hackers malware or whatever

Could you advise me on which organization or person I should contact regarding serious iPhone security issues? A hacker has been harassing me for a long time.

Đêm qua bạn mình ngủ, sáng dậy thấy hàng loạt tin nhắn được gửi đi như thế này trong imess tới đầu số +1

For the past year or so, I’ve noticed a disturbing and persistent change in my social media feeds, and I’m hoping someone with cybersecurity knowledge can help me understand what might be happening.
My feeds have increasingly become filled with bizarre, unsettling, and sometimes disturbing content. This includes strange TikTok videos, content involving grooming-related themes, and disturbing videos recommended to me on YouTube. What concerns me most is that these recommendations often seem to revolve around a particular person or group of people, although I’m not sure why or how the connection is being made.
TikTok has been especially frustrating. My For You page is overwhelmingly feminine and seems to feature blonde women almost exclusively, alongside what appears to be bot-generated content or videos that seem to impersonate or imitate a particular person or group. I’ve tried to change my feed by avoiding this content, not engaging with it, and deliberately watching and liking completely different types of videos, but the recommendations persist.
I’ve noticed similar, although less pronounced, patterns on Instagram Reels and YouTube. On YouTube, I also receive ads that feel unusually targeted to me. My search results across some platforms also don’t seem to show the most-viewed, most popular, or most relevant content. Instead, the results sometimes feel filtered or selectively arranged in a way that makes it difficult to find what I’m actually looking for. The overall experience feels like a form of micromanaging.
The content of my feeds also sometimes seems to respond directly to events in my daily life. For example, after something happens or I think about a particular topic, I may soon encounter related videos, ads, or recommendations. I understand that algorithms can make surprisingly accurate predictions based on viewing history, searches, location, device data, and other signals, but the timing and repetition have been unsettling.
On YouTube and Spotify, I’ve also experienced recommendations that seem repetitive or unrelated to my usual interests, including songs from artists I don’t normally listen to. Across these platforms, the content sometimes feels strangely interconnected, which has left me wondering whether there could be a technical explanation for what I’m experiencing.
One of the biggest reasons I’m concerned is that I recently purchased a completely new phone and set it up with a new email address, without transferring anything from my previous phone. Despite taking these steps, I’ve continued to encounter similar recommendations, ads, and content.
I understand that recommendation algorithms, advertising systems, personalization, and search-ranking systems can be difficult to predict. Similar content can also appear across platforms for ordinary reasons, especially when companies use shared advertising networks, device identifiers, location data, browser information, or data from third-party sources. However, the persistence of these patterns, even after changing devices and accounts, is what I’m struggling to understand.
The situation has taken a serious toll on my mental health. I feel increasingly distressed by what I’m seeing, and the recurring nature of the content has made it difficult to stop thinking about it. My family is concerned about me, but because not everyone is familiar with technology, it has been difficult to explain what I’m experiencing or figure out what steps to take.
This is such a serious situation that I feel almost crazy talking about it out loud, but that is exactly why I feel I need to post this. I’m trying to describe what I’m observing and find a grounded, evidence-based explanation rather than make unsupported accusations.
I’m not looking to jump to conclusions or accuse anyone without evidence. I genuinely want to understand whether there are plausible technical explanations for this.
For those familiar with cybersecurity, account security, tracking technologies, recommendation algorithms, search ranking, or cross-platform data collection, I have a few questions:
1. Could account-independent tracking, advertising identifiers, data brokers, location data, device fingerprinting, or other forms of profiling explain why similar recommendations and targeted ads persist after switching phones and email addresses?
Are there legitimate technical reasons that recommendation algorithms might repeatedly surface similar content across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify?
2. Could personalization or search-ranking systems explain why my results do not always appear to show the most-viewed or most relevant content?
What security checks would you recommend to determine whether my accounts, devices, or network are compromised?
3. How can I systematically troubleshoot this without making assumptions about the cause?
What evidence should I collect, such as screenshots, timestamps, account activity, ad settings, or recommendation-history data, while protecting my privacy?
I would appreciate practical, evidence-based advice on where to start. This has become genuinely distressing, and I want to find a way to understand what is happening and regain some peace of mind.
Thank you to anyone willing to offer constructive guidance.

I hope everyone is doing really well.

I am creating this post to ask for help with a topic that has been causing me a lot of distress lately.

Ever since I found out about the existence of rootkits, the ability to put a virus in the BIOS and make it impossible to remove from the PC, I have never been able to use my computer the same way again. I constantly feel like I am being watched and that out of nowhere someone is going to break my PC just to anger me.

Well, I suffer from depression and I have been having certain issues with my PC recently: USBs disconnecting randomly, Windows crashing, games crashing, unexpected behavior, among other things.

I have had a few disagreements with my brother lately and I have been imagining that he might have installed a rootkit on my computer to play a prank on me, since he knows about my depression and my fragile psychological state.

Considering this fear I have of rootkits, I humbly ask for explanations regarding whether this could actually be happening or if it is purely a product of my imagination. Perhaps a technical explanation of the possibilities and the vulnerabilities required for a rootkit to install itself in the BIOS and become immune to OS reinstallations could help me better understand what is real in this situation.

In my mind, if my motherboard has a rootkit and I bought a graphics card the following month, is it possible for that rootkit to spread to my graphics card? And if I then put that graphics card into a new motherboard, would the same thing happen to the new motherboard, meaning it would become a vicious cycle where I am always being watched and deal with the frustration of these strange occurrences? Is this possible? I would appreciate a technical explanation, maybe it can help calm me down.

Regarding the concept of a clean slate, if I buy a new PC, could my emails, all legitimate official Google accounts, that I use on my Steam account for example bring this infection back to my new PC?

Could this be done by an average person with certain contacts? What is the actual threshold between fact and reality in this situation?

I sincerely thank anyone who can help. The more technical detail you can provide, the better it will help me separate imagination from reality. Thank you.

Hello guys, as the title says, I got a virus god knows how, which is very weird since I've been pirating games from years with no incidents of any kind. I've wiped my PC's out of the orbit after that discord hack happened (Mr. Beast scam), changed all my passwords from a clean device, cancelled my cards that I used on the infected PC, logged out out of all devices manually from multiple apps (Meta Account Center, Google, etc.), but I'm still paranoid.

The stolen discord token (I suspect this since I've got no email when the account was accessed, I only found out when it was banned, recovered it) was used about a month ago, but I got so paranoid that I even factory reset'd my router. Thing is, I also used my laptop in a different place, am I too paranoid to want to factory reset that router too? That's the main place I used to live and use that laptop not to much before the discord breach.

This has gotten me so paranoid that I even factory reset my Chromecast device, I've not had any incidents, no one logged on anything else, no attempts nothing for 24 days since then. Now I'm thinking about the smart TVs too and anything the two routers ever connected to, even my iPhone and the iPhones of the other people that connected. Is this too much? Could it just hide from me for this long on different devices? Should I wait for some more proof? I've seen some nasty stuff happen to other people on this subreddit and I personally wouldn't be able to take it if I get blackmailed directly. Should I worry about getting blackmailed after so long? Am I in the clear now? Will I ever be? Sorry for so many questions but it's possibly the worst thing that has ever happened to me and I needed to tell some people about this who could understand me. Please understand me. I'm also worried he took screenshots or recorded my webcam.

Weird messages sent from my tiktok account to my friend, the messages were deleted on my side so I had no idea until my friend messaged me asking why I sent them. There was one login from a Huawei p smart 2019 which I quickly deleted from my devices, changed my password, put on a passkey and cleared me cache before checking my other 3 accounts. One had a log in at 7am from a Samsung galaxy S23 so I had to do the same passkey stuff. The other two accounts had no new device logins. These messages came through the same time I was messaging my cousin on my account and I'm rlly freaked out cuz idk if they can get back in. It doesn't seem like anyone else got a message if so they haven't told me. Could they possibly get back in my account?

I am pretty sure the website was called Sage-Advices. I clicked on a link to a page about how proteins are used in respiration. It was a proper article but when I got on to the website, a screen appeared covering everything with green text saying things like “PC identified”, I got off the website but it then kept sending me notifications from Norton and mcafee saying virus detected, telling me to buy virus protection. The notifications kept coming even after the website was closed. I turned notifications off.

I checked and scanned my computer for viruses and windows says there’s nothing. But I’m still just confused I guess.

The notifications were coming from this website address:

dbdn8vps66ac73ahjbbg.kugusu.co.in

I checked urlvoid and nothing really came up.

Made a reddit account just for this since i am very paranoid lol

I was on Twitter/X and unknowingly clicked one of those photos that hides a link and it directed me to a website which had the infamous "oh no you've been hacked install this!!" pop up.

Obviously, i clicked off immediately and went about my day. I spent almost an hour just using my phone as normal when suddenly Siri starts activating over and over without being provoked, and continuing to play my last listened to song on Spotify while i am watching TikTok. I do not have the "hey Siri" speech activation on so it could not have been that.

It was getting annoying and far past just accidentally holding the button for Siri, so i hopped on google and asked it why this may be going on. As i did that, Siri suddenly started tweaking out even more and worse than it already was. I was on my way to shut down my phone and suddenly music started to play again. It was something on Spotify i had listened to once like weeks ago. I checked Spotify and the app was not showing that i was actively listening to that song or listening to anything at all, it just showed the song that i didn't finish listening to earlier.

By this point i was getting freaked out and actually went to shut down my phone. I swiped down to open up the bar of controls when i swear my screen it swiped out of it by itself (could just be me being paranoid idk, i guess i am not absolutely 100% i remember it doing that). I swiped down again and successfully shut down my phone. This happened all within like 2-3 minutes.

It is worth mentioning that i had wired earbuds connected to my phone, the ones with the microphone bar attached to one of the wires to control sound, skip songs, and turn on Siri, etc. But what confuses me is yes, that is a possibility why this happened, but i use them a lot and it has never done anything like that before. I was not touching the bar, yet Siri kept tweaking even when i made sure i wasn't touching the headphones at all except for the buds inside my ear. I also don't understand how it could've even played a song i listened to many weeks ago, that isn't added to any playlist or saved at all, and didn't show any signs of it playing in the first place. Idk, maybe it could be why. I took my headphones off after i shut my phone down.

Once i turned my phone back on everything was completely normal. I asked Chatgpt for things i could check that might indicate a compromise, i read many reddit threads, browsed google, and nothing that i checked shows that anyone did anything to my phone except for this weird little incident that happened. I still think this was really odd though because nothing like it has ever happened to me before.

Some details: My phone is close to fully updated, i have the IPhone 17promax, i really don't have anything worth stealing on here, checked apps, security permission things, downloads, devices, etc. and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

I feel like i am overthinking this very much and i probably am but i just want some input because this spooked me out really bad, especially since i have not one bit of knowledge about this kind of stuff. My apologies if this wasn't explained very well, my English is not the best

​

Someone has been sharing my mom’s phone number on whatsapp and Snapchat. Now a bunch of strangers are texting the number with messages like “hi, how are you?” and other random stuff.

We already reported it to the local police, but they said they can’t really do much right now because we live in a village area.

One of the Snapchat accounts involved is named grisma g (username: grismag2026). I have a screenshot of the profile.

Hello, sorry if this is a dumb question, I am very cautious and paranoid about this stuff but I wanted to be safe than sorry and gain some knowledge in the process.

I did a bit of quick research on the new PHP exploit that has been revealed and as far as i understand it it only affects websites, and since as far as I know when Windows auto detects what kind of components your PC has and checks for updates and downloads them from various websites related to them, I wanted to do a clean install of Windows 11 and was wondering if there is a potential that a malicious person could have hijacked those sites and uploaded a virus that would be automatically downloaded instead of an update with the current PHP exploit going on.

Or should I just wait a couple of weeks until the cybersecurity experts have dealt with the problem?

So my laptop fan was on when my laptop was closed (put it on sleep) and I didn’t even realize until after like 10 minutes and then I was like wondering where that fan sound came from then I heard it from my laptop, weird thing is I didn’t even open up my laptop the whole day and didn’t do anything too

My question is that why is the fan on even tho I didn’t open the laptop and could there be malware secretly running in the back ground while my laptop was closed?

For more information
I had the charger plugged in the laptop 24/7 (I js never takes off the charger off the laptop except sometimes)
I didn’t download anything suspicious or sketchy and visiting suspicious websites and I barely browse websites using my laptop
EDIT : I forgot to mention this but when I turned on the laptop and closed it again the fan went off

What am worried is that there’s actually malware on my laptop since I seen posts abt ppl getting hacked or having virus without them did anything

I don't know it right form to ask but so it a bit werid and I'm not good with computer so I want to ask recently my laptop got infect with malware, trojan and backdoor but I re-install window everything seem fine I do it 17 oct but at next day 18 oct my instagram got hack it send a scam link website to everyone on my contact so I change my password on email, meta even deleted tthat instargam since I not really use it, everything seem fine all the time I scan my laptop with deep scan and it say I'm clean found noting but then today 24 oct my facebook got hack and send picture and scam web but the time was like 5-6 day can it do that? or I'm i still infect? I scan multiple time with deep scan and it say I was clean I'm so panic I reset my password every few hour

it possible to do this? how can I avoid it more I reset my password from facebook email and ig
does it normal take my ig first then facebook and what next my discord? again I'm not very good at computer stuff so if anyone have a advice or something please tell me

now I jusut found out Discord also got hack and send it too but only a contact list not send in sever

What I alredy done
re-install window
Check email seem fine
Change password and 2 Fa
Revoke Sessions
Deleted chorme Cookie and cache

again I'm not good with computer stuff I'm so panic my had write this still shaking from scared what happen to all my accout if someone or anyone have experience or can give me a advice what should and what can I do I will be very thank please.

so I suspect my laptop is slow and I use Malwarebytes to scan and yes found a Malware, trojann and a backdoor the day I found was 17 oct without thinking I deleted it reset my pc but I'm too paranoid that I in the end re-install my widow everything is fine until next day 18 oct my instragarm send people a scam link I suspect and deleted that accout everything fine for 5-6 day but boom 24 oct it happen again but with my facebook and discoard send people a scam link ad pic of mrbeast scam at the time I do not Revoke Sessions or Deleted chorme Cookie and cache yet but today after all that I already do so I want to know if anyone can tell me what should I do next or is it ok now?
do I need to re-install widow? do I need to change more? also 2fa is always on but I heard Session can bypass those still if someone have experience please talk with me as I'm very paranoid and worry

I was logging into a Minecraft server thinking it was the real one but it was a scam and I can't log into my account anymore because it keeps sending the code to an unknown email and my password has also been changed I will offer money to whoever can help retrieve my account

Hello. Please forgive me if I am missing something, I have tried to research this before coming to reddit and I am finding nothing.

Windows 11, PC, Chrome

I do not have the Guardio extension. I have not used Guardio and I do not have an account, although it does allow me to "log in" with a new password I created with my gmail address, which then refreshes the login page (ie. I cannot actually log in, I did not accept any TOS).
Due to the Citizen Lab reports I have been more on guard than usual as I work in the advocacy space, and when looking through my cookies and permissions I found it bothersome that Guardio has the largest list of partitioned cookies (including doubleclick, yandex, and Javascript/Automatic downloads etc. are "allowlisted internally" . I can delete all these cookies and upon refresh they come back, again, no extension, clear history etc.
I even made an "extentioninstallblocklist" in the registry editor to block Guardio and "gjfpmkejnolcfklaaddjnckanhhgegla", they come back.
I also want to preface that I do not use temu, "mail ru", openai or essentially any of those listed, but I understand these can come from various sites and they don't pose a worry as I am able to disable all of their permissions.
TLDR;
Am I at risk due to the cookies listed and affiliated with Guardio? Does this seem malicious? I'd really appreciate someone helping me understand more. My understanding is that these should be "good cookies", but it makes no sense because I am not a Guardio user.
Any advice, including how to surf the web in a safer way and avoid malware is always welcome.
TYIA.

​

I've been getting more interested in cybersecurity lately, especially Windows security and understanding how to protect my PC from unwanted network activity.

While researching, I came across tools like Portmaster and TinyWall, which seem to offer more control over network connections and outgoing traffic.

I'm interested in adding another layer of protection that helps me monitor and control which applications can connect to the internet, particularly if something malicious ever ends up on my system.

A few questions for people with experience in this area:

- Is using a firewall like Portmaster or TinyWall a meaningful improvement over Windows Defender Firewall?

- Which one would you recommend for monitoring and controlling outbound connections?

- Can these tools help detect or block malware attempting to communicate with external servers?

- Are there any significant downsides, performance issues, or compatibility problems I should know about?

- Would you recommend using either alongside Windows Defender, or is the built-in firewall sufficient when configured properly?

I'm not expecting a firewall to replace antivirus software or prevent every type of attack. I just want better visibility and control over outgoing network traffic as an additional layer of defense.

I'd appreciate advice from people who have actually used these tools or have experience with Windows security.

I got an email saying my amazon account was comprised on one of my alternate emails that I don't use. I cant sign back in despite trying to reset the password and I keep getting messages saying the code has been sent when im not requesting it. I think on the account there's only my name and maybe my address but im not sure if there's any card info I was thinking of deleting this email anyways as I dont use it but should i attempt to recover the account? its saying its locked and I can no longer answer security questions aswell I also cant contact support cause I have to sign in. Any advice would be super appreciated 🙏🏽

UPDATE!

I managed to change the password and amazon has stated that it is reactivated but it wont let me sign in and still says account is locked despite getting an email saying password has been reset. should i just wait to sign in? or do I keep trying?

Good afternoon I need help Who is behind a few facebook accounts that are using my pictures and literally harassing my family members…

Hi all,

My Git account uses SMS codes to my mobile number as the second factor. Today the codes stopped arriving, so I can’t log in.

The same day, I also received a suspicious email about my repositories. I haven’t clicked any links or opened attachments.

I’m trying to work out whether this is a real compromise or just a delivery problem.