Fair Warning

I consider myself very computer literate, and very cautious about computer security.  But today I had a 15 second brain freeze:  I got an email from "the help desk" asking me to confirm my user name because they were updating.  I clicked on the link, and entered my user name, hit "enter" and the web screen closed with a thank-you.

I swallowed my pride and immediately called our help desk, who confirmed I'd been duped.  In all likelihood my computer was infected with some sort of code to steal passwords or other information.  I was told to turn off the computer immediately, and that I'd be hearing back from someone soon.  "Soon" was about 20 minutes later when two of our fine computer techs showed up at my office.  One of whom pretty much made it known that, well, I hadn't used my head.  The next thing that I know, my CPU and hard drive are being escorted out the door to be jailed, examined, cleansed and otherwise invaded for a few days.

My mistake should be your learning moment:  Do not open links from unknown sources.  Do not provide passwords or similar information to anybody (the help desk does not need that stuff!), and if you do make a mistake, call the help desk immediately; if there might be a delay in calling, shut off the computer until you get in touch with them.