Hello All, Seems like my father[1] got scammed by "Telstra". They asked for the model and serial number of our ADSL modem, and asked him what lights were flashing. They had him install "Any place control 7.5" on his Windows computer, gave them remote access. In doing so his screen went blank, which makes me very suspicious. Then he left his computer on with the remote access still enabled. As a result, we have no idea what the attacker may have done. They said we could have free fibre connection for $5 delivery fee, which finally got him suspicious, but he still didn't think of turning off the computer or disconnecting the network connection. We don't have any account with Telstra, and there is no reason why they should be calling. I think we cannot trust that copy of Windows anymore. I have recommended he use Windows from his old hard disk[1] that wasn't plugged in at the time. I am not sure what to do about his data files (Word + Excel), other then do a full virus scan. He also has a backup copy of the files that was not available to the attacker, and was going to compare file sizes. I might suggest he install a program that compares files in two directories, and run that. (any recommendations?). I might also block unknown telephone numbers on incoming phone calls by default. Sure we might miss some important calls (callers these days generally refuse to leave voice mail), but I think it will be safer. I think this could easily happen again. Is there anything else we should be doing? Regards Notes: [1] This the same father who just recently purchased an external USB device, plugged a 12V power supply into it - instead of 5V, and fried the device and his motherboard in his good computer at the same time. -- Brian May <brian@linuxpenguins.xyz> https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/