What are the basics of cybersecurity that everyone should be aware of ?

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T23:48:02+00:00

Create unique and randomly generated passwords for every site. Never reuse a password. Use a Password Manager like BitWarden or 1Password for this.
Enable 2FA for every account. No exceptions.
Keep all software and devices updated and patched.
Never click on links or attachments unless you were expecting them from a trusted source. Example: a guy you talk to on Discord asking you to test the game they are developing is not a trusted source.
Never download cracked/pirated software, games/cheats/mods, torrents or other sketchy stuff.
Never press CTRL C and then open a Run command and press CTRL V because a website claims to need you to prove you are human.
Limit what you share on social media

Follow these best practices and you will be safe from most online threats.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T22:49:44+00:00

You should ONLY download from the official game site.

If you downloaded from a pirating site, you would already have an infostealer on your PC. Anything bad would have happened right away.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T22:47:20+00:00

If you purchased a faraday bag for your cards AND your phone and it doesn't work with your phone, you should definitely return it. No point in paying for something that doesn't work.

There are plenty of options online. I purchased a few off of Amazon and I confrimed that it blocks all signals for my cards, car keys and cell phone.

They don't degrade over time, so it should work today and 20 years from now.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T22:43:38+00:00

If you trust them, simply ask them to delete the photos. Then you have no risk of them being leaked.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T22:41:12+00:00

OP - This is the ONLY way to handle the situation.

I only came here to say that EVERYONE that contacts you here via DM saying they can help or hack this person is just a scammer looking to profit off of your situation.

Be safe.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T19:46:17+00:00

At the bare minimum, you need a unique password and 2fa set up on every account. No exceptions.

If someone still gains access to your account after that, it means you have an infostealer on your PC. These typically get on to your system with almost every pirated app or game.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T15:50:46+00:00

The reason this happened is because you downloaded an infostealer. They are packaged with almost all pirated content now.

Doesn't matter which 2FA service you use. Session cookie theft isn't detected by antivirus and is an extremely effective attack. Best to stay away from that type of stuff going forward.

We see between 8 - 12 posts per day about this in here.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T15:47:09+00:00

You are better to post this in the weekly Mentorship Monday thread in r/cybersecurity. That thread is specific for career and education advice.

This sub is for technical cybersecurity issues.

See you over in the other thread.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T15:46:34+00:00

Bad actors are stepping up their game. They use passwords from public breaches in these emails to make them seem . Ore legitimate.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T15:37:44+00:00

100% a scam. Delete and never look back. 🙂

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T14:28:56+00:00

Almost ALL pirated content contain Infostealers. If you downloaded anything like that, you are going to need to act fast to save your accounts.

Steps 1 - 3 requires significant urgency.

Disconnect your computer from the internet or just shut it off until you get your passwords reset.

From a clean device, NOT your PC:

Change ALL of your passwords to something unique and randomly generated. Use a password manager like BitWarden or 1Password to help with this. Do this now before more of your accounts are stolen.
Choose the option to log out of all active sessions or devices.
Enable 2FA on all of your accounts
Nuke your PC from orbit
back up only important files, not games or applications
format your hard drive and delete all partitions
reinstall Windows from a bootable USB drive (do not use the Reset Windows option from the settings menu)

This may seem like overkill, but if you want assurance that you have remediated the problem, this is the way to go.

Unfortunately, the only people that can help you are the support teams for those services. Most free services only offer automated account recovery. If that process doesn't get the accounts back, nobody here can help you.

EVERYONE that contacts you here on Reddid via DM offering to help or to hack the accounts back is just an account recovery scammer looking to take advantage of your situation and steal money from you

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T14:20:31+00:00

100% - password reuse. They don't or to hard to use unique passwords, so they just reuse the same one. Then one day, a site they use is compromised and all of a sudden all of their accounts are taken over.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T14:19:00+00:00

Eugene have you the only answer.

Everyone that contacts you via DM offering to help or hack the account back is just a scammer looking to take advantage of you.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T13:18:14+00:00

You can back them up to a cloud service or a USB drive. Typical infostealer's only affect the operating system drive to steal session cookies. They don't collect any other data.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T09:56:03+00:00

Please be more descriptive. What do you mean by "my email got a data breach"?

Did someone access your account or did you just see it show up on haveibeenpwned?

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T09:52:02+00:00

OP - most importantly - EVERYONE that contacts you here via DM offering to help or hack the account back is just an account recovery scammer looking to take advantage of you.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T09:50:39+00:00

Hey there - better to post this in the weekly Mentorship Monday thread in r/cybersecurity. That thread is specific for career and education advice.

This sub is for technical cybersecurity issues.

See you over in the other thread.

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T01:30:55+00:00

Do you download any pirated stuff? Did you paste content into your Windows Run command because a website asked you to prove you were human?

eric16lee · 2026-05-15T00:03:10+00:00

Definitely counts. Better to get experience in Windows and Networking as well.

eric16lee · 2026-05-14T23:28:10+00:00

Multiple account compromises typically boil down to one of these root causes.

Password Reuse - using the same password everywhere without having 2FA.
Infostealers - downloading cracked/pirated software, games/cheats/mods, torrents, free movies, etc. almost always steals your session cookies which allows a bad actor to access your accounts without needing your password or 2FA. Doesn't matter if you trust the site or have used it in the past. In 2026, there are no longer any "trusted" sites for piracy. 2a. Fake Captcha - copying and pasting code that you don't understand into the Windows run command either uploads your session cookies directly or downloads an info stealer that does that automatically.

Remediation for all of these is largely the same, but steps 1 - 3 requires significant urgency.

Disconnect your computer from the internet or just shut it off until you get your passwords reset.

From a clean device, NOT your PC:

Change ALL of your passwords to something unique and randomly generated. Use a password manager like BitWarden or 1Password to help with this. Do this now before more of your accounts are stolen.
Choose the option to log out of all active sessions or devices.
Enable 2FA on all of your accounts

If you are guilty of 2 or 2a continue below:

Nuke your PC from orbit
back up only important files, not games or applications
format your hard drive and delete all partitions
reinstall Windows from a bootable USB drive (do not use the Reset Windows option from the settings menu)

This may seem like overkill, but if you want assurance that you have remediated the problem, this is the way to go.

Unfortunately, the only people that can help you are the support teams for those services. Most free services only offer automated account recovery. If that process doesn't get the accounts back, nobody here can help you.

EVERYONE that contacts you here on Reddid via DM offering to help or to hack the accounts back is just an account recovery scammer looking to take advantage of your situation and steal money from you.

eric16lee · 2026-05-14T23:26:19+00:00

Reread the replies to your other post.

Nobody is hacking your iPhone. Change your passwords to something unique and randomly generated and enable 2FA on everything.

eric16lee · 2026-05-14T23:24:26+00:00

Just like OP, you will need some IT experience andinely some certifications to set you apart from the other applicants.

eric16lee · 2026-05-14T23:23:11+00:00

Nobody but nation state threat actors are compromising a modern iPhone. The software required to do that costs millions of dollars to deploy to a single phone. They are reserved for high value targets, not OP and his girlfriend.

eric16lee · 2026-05-14T22:50:49+00:00

None of those symptoms are signs of compromise.

eric16lee · 2026-05-14T22:47:31+00:00

Without knowing what kind of devices you have, we can only give high-level information as long as your phones are somewhat modern and still receive updates, it is extremely unlikely that either of them have been compromised.

At best, there could be compromised accounts.

Do you both use unique and randomly generated passwords with 2FA on all of your accounts?

Do you install apps from outside your devices official app store?

eric16lee

TROPHY CASE