What it is
What you may notice
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Unexpected prompts for re-login or MFA
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New browser extensions or odd redirects
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Spikes in network traffic when idle
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Security tools crashing or failing to update
How it gets in
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Phishing emails with booby-trapped attachments
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Fake software updates and repacked installers
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Malvertising and sketchy download sites
Remove it now - quick steps
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Disconnect from the internet to stop data exfiltration.
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Run a full anti-malware scan, quarantine results, reboot, then scan again.
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From a clean device, change passwords for email, banking, and cloud accounts and enable MFA.
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Check startup items, scheduled tasks, services, and browser extensions and remove unknown entries.
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Review firewall or DNS logs and block contacted domains/IPs.
Prevent it
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Install software only from official sources and avoid cracks or repacks.
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Keep Windows, browsers, and Office updated and block macros by default.
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Use reputable EDR or anti-malware with email and web filtering.
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Turn on DNS filtering to block known malicious hosts.
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Train users to verify money or account changes out of band.
Respond to information exposure
Isolate the endpoint and preserve the attachment or installer, process tree, startup method, and outbound destination. Remove persistence and scan for additional tools, but assume credentials typed or stored on the device may be exposed. From a clean device, revoke sessions, change email, browser, VPN, and financial passwords, and inspect mailbox forwarding or recovery changes. Search other inboxes for the same lure. The incident should be handled as spyware exposure, with MFA enabled only after the primary credentials are reset.