Hey everyone, I'm in a bit of a bind and feeling pretty embarrassed about it. I was looking for a free VPN service, and I ended up downloading something called "SafeGuard VPN". I know I should have been cautious, but I went ahead and ran the .exe file after downloading it. It felt weird right from the start when my browser just closed by itself. To be safe, I uploaded the file to VirusTotal, but it only showed one slight flag in terms of safety. However, the behavior analysis looked really suspicious.
I've since booted into safe mode and ran a bunch of security tools like Rkill, MalwareBytes, and HitmanPro, and I also deleted all the files that the program created. But here's the thing: I'm really worried that this might have compromised my passwords or files. I'm not too familiar with how VirusTotal works, so I could really use some help figuring this out. For now, I have access to all my accounts, including Gmail, Facebook, and Discord, and I've got two-factor authentication on all of them.
2 Answers
First off, don’t panic! It sounds like you might have dodged a bullet. Since you’ve already done some deep cleaning with those tools, you’re on the right track. Just keep monitoring your accounts closely for any suspicious activity. If you’re really concerned, consider changing your passwords, especially if you feel like your privacy might have been compromised. Better safe than sorry!
It's good that you're being proactive! Always remember to download software from official websites. Since you're seeing some flags on VirusTotal, I’d recommend running a full scan again after using MalwareBytes. Sometimes you need to do multiple sweeps to catch everything. And if you have the option, consider resetting your browsers to their default settings after rebooting, just in case there's any lingering malware.
Thanks for the reassurance! I’ll definitely keep an eye on my accounts, but I think it’s a good idea to change my passwords as well.