[SOLVED] Security breached and data compromised

[CuriousPlaces]

I work at an independent repair shop and a woman came in yesterday with a HP Probook 445 saying she had a "Jerry Spring esq" security problem. She than described to me a situation where an ex husband who 'works in IT' has been stalking her digitally. It seems he had access to most of her accounts before they separated and has been abusing that power to harass her. She covered her webcam because the ex was texting her a descriptions of what she was wearing. She has moved, changed isp and purchased a new router. One issue I identified was that she was signed into a Microsoft live account he has access to. Thus far my recommendation to her is to create a new email account to than create a new live account, and than change the email associated with her other accounts. Once she has changed the email to than changed the password and the security questions (and change those questions to something she knows he doesn't or just use them as passwords themselves). Than to turn on 2 step verification on all accounts. Some research seems to indicate that her changing the name of her access point at home and then changing the password before signing back in with her devices might help. Would using a VPN in the future help her as well? This problem is out of my depth and was wondering if there were any other steps she could take to block this person from continually messing with her.

 

[william p]

I actually resorted to running my computer off of a Linux live DVD with no HDD connected. Tor browser helps since it connects differently each time. But many sites won't allow it. Brave browser blocks a lot of tracking software. I don't use a password on Ebay. They text a single use code each log in.
Reboot Restore RX reverses any changes made to an HDD each time the computer is turned on. It's used for public access computers.
You have to turn it off for updates. I don't have wifi, hardwired connections.
Don't do business online. He will know who she has accounts with. Paper checks to pay bills.
Even with all that I know my hacker loads spyware. When I connected a Windows HDD to get some files off of it I saw the Python scripts he was sending trying to run. These guys can load transparent screens and see everything you see, and every password you type. Basically don't do anything important on the computer.
The no password on Ebay is important. I found $5K of night vision rifle scopes in my shopping cart, and my shipping adress changed.
I've also had security questions at banks changed. Opened a new account and they were changed there also. had to leave that bank.
Since she knows who is doing this she should report it to the FBI. Attention from law enforcemnet is about the only thing these guys take seriously. Put his name in the first sentence of the report.

 

[Dean0919]

I think just changing her passwords on most important accounts of her like Microsoft, Google, Facebook and etc & changing questions and answers in security settings, then turning on 2FA and enabling as much securities as possible would already help. I don't think he could track her after that. No need VPN.

 

[Alunny]

She needs to get in touch with police, this is stalking and harassment and criminal. She's entitled to a restraining order and pressing charges, so before she wipes all the evidence tell her to hand it over to authorities.

And tell her to see a support group for domestic abuse as well, this is abuse and it would not surprise me if it ran deeper than she realises. Please keep her safe when he's cut off he could go crazy, she needs to report this to police and have a support network.