I got up, opened email, and saw a friend of mine had sent something w/ a link. Only, his name, being Dutch was spelled wrong w/ "De XXXXXX" intead of "de XXXXX". (As he spells it.)

I fell for it and clicked the link.

It looked like Microsoft Defender caught it but I was closing things so fast, I didn't take time to analyze what the window said.

So I ran malware bytes and windows defender quick scan and long scan and offline scan.

I changed my email password but no way in hell I'm changing all my password program passwords. I'de be busy till October.

Everything came back clean w/ scans.
Is there something I might be neglecting?

Everything w/ my main banking institution looked good.

Curious - what would happen if Defender didn't catch it? What if the same link was clicked while in Linux or MacOS? (since neither seem to have robust virus / malware scan built in like Windows).

*phweeeooooo!*


I'ze afeared you got Rickrolled.

Well, maybe I got Ricked. I'm still waiting for the Roll.

It would be crazy but I could re-click the link that's now in spam to see what Defender said. But that would be crazy.

It doesn't look like I've posted anything in the Classifieds here saying I've got a deal that can't be beat. I changed my SIGforum PW a last week.
Hint: I've never done bizness in the Classifieds.

This is a serious fear of mine. I try to be thoughtful, but I can see how easily it could be to open the wrong thing.

Typically, these sorts of links are click bait to get you to visit a website that contains the actual payload (e.g. to download and install an app that will do serious damage). Not to say that they are all innocuous, but most browsers now intercept direct attacks.

There is one on iPadOS that purports to be from Norton saying that they have found malware on your iPad, and "click here to install Norton AV." This is, of course, a lie.

Most likely, if you don't go down the rabbit hole, you won't find yourself lost in Wonderland.

I do not click on anything in email or text. Unless I verify the sender actually sent it.

I hang around 68-88 y.o. people ,

Only one out of the 12 would have known what steps to take ( like you did).

Three of them came very close to huge financial problems last year.

But all they had to do was stop and back out.

quote:

It looked like Microsoft Defender caught it but I was closing things so fast, I didn't take time to analyze what the window said.

Browser window or the actual Windows Defender service window? If browser window it was most likely click bait to take you further down the hole.

MalwareBytes is still probably better at detecting malware after the fact than defender but running both is good. Sounds like you had a very near miss.

Look at your sent items to make sure you don't see anything you didn't send (and continue to monitor it for a while).

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
Look at your sent items to make sure you don't see anything you didn't send (and continue to monitor it for a while).

Nothing suspicious so far on all fronts.
Thanks, and will do.

I’m always extra cautious when it comes to clicking on links, even from someone I know