Grandparent got scammed, advice on how to stop unwanted network access.

[volrath]

Unsure where to post this, but as its a networking related thing I'll post it here...

So, my nan got hit with a phone scam claiming to be from Amazon, it's the kind of scam we all laugh about, the ones that none of us can believe actually work... Well it did and they got her to open a tunnel into her laptop (she told me they could see her screen so it was successful). Luckily she realised she might have got scammed and let me know as soon as she got off the phone, I've told her not to turn the laptop on and will be picking it up from her tomorrow. Going to do a full wipe of the system, also going to change all her passwords and close any ports on her router just to be sure. We also let her bank know and all the other things you do in this situation...

We have taken steps to hopefully secure her phone network.

What I would like to know, is there any software that can either stop someone gaining access to her laptop like this or let me monitor things remotely? Ideally I would like it to be impact free or accessible via a remote connection (she gets scared of updates, thinks she will break the laptop) I'm thinking something like Glasswire, but dunno if there is a better solution out there? Ideally I would like it to just be totally in the background, something that is there but she never has to interact with.

She only uses her laptop for email, Facebook and to watch weekly church services (as she can't go IRL at the moment). So maybe some sort of network lock would help? I dunno, any advice would be greatly appreciated...

[GDRRiley]

I'd put her on linux without the root account

[volrath]

30 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

I'd put her on linux without the root account

Hmm, trying to get her used to a new operating system/file structure wouldn't really work... Just simple things like a new start logo would completely throw her. Shes 84 and her memory isn't very good so trying to teach her anything new would be hard at this point...

To put things into context, Edge changing their logo from the E to the wave caused weeks of issues because she "couldn't find the internet button"...

That's the level we are working at here, that's why it needs to be something that either I can monitor, or will run in the background that she doesn't have to interact with it in anyway. 

Does Windows have a similar system? I could put restrictions on her installing/downloading content, basically I need a child lock for her lol

[GDRRiley]

13 minutes ago, volrath said:

Does Windows have a similar system? I could put restrictions on her installing/downloading content, basically I need a child lock for her lol

you could put her on a non admin account. that would not allow her to install programs.

[TargetDron3]

Make sure she isn't an admin.  

Training, training, training.  Drill it into her head.  No one calling you needs access to your computer or bank account.  

I fully understand your frustrations.  My father in law is the same way.  

I've had to come up with documents to give to people in a corporate environment to stop this kind of thing from happening.

 

[volrath]

2 minutes ago, TargetDron3 said:

Make sure she isn't an admin.  

Training, training, training.  Drill it into her head.  No one calling you needs access to your computer or bank account.  

I fully understand your frustrations.  My father in law is the same way.  

I've had to come up with documents to give to people in a corporate environment to stop this kind of thing from happening.

 

Yeah its really frustrating, we have told her so many times if someone rings you saying they are from any company, just hang up the phone, and ring their call center... But she just doesn't listen, or gets easily lead, like with this one it was just bad timing, because we cancelled her Amazon Prime subscription (god knows why she had one in the first place) and a few days later someone claiming to be from Amazon calls her about a refund. So to her it makes sense, even though literally anyone could tell her Amazon don't do call centers...

Im going to set everything up so she isn't admin and lock off all but the few websites she actually uses, apparently Microsoft child accounts can email you network activity, might do that just to keep an eye on things. Hopefully the changes to her phone line will make sure she doesn't continue to get targeted. Just want to stop her from being able to give access if it happens again...