Response guidance

When something goes wrong, start with the next safe step.

Incident guidance should reduce confusion, not add another project to manage. These resources prioritise the first useful action, the order that follows and the information worth preserving.

If this is happening now

Choose the closest situation. If money is moving or someone is in immediate danger, contact the relevant local service without waiting.

Suspicious request

Someone is asking me to act immediately

Stop the interaction, use no contact details they supplied and verify the request through an independent channel.

Account access

Someone may be inside my account

Use a trusted device, secure the recovery email first and remove sessions or forwarding rules you do not recognise.

Data exposure

My information appeared in a breach or public listing

Confirm the source, identify what cannot be changed and prepare for follow-up messages that use accurate details.

Recovery offer

Someone says they can recover money I lost

Do not pay an upfront fee or share financial information. Verify the organisation independently before continuing.

A repeatable response

Five stages for clearer decisions under pressure.

Not every incident uses every stage in the same way. The sequence prevents investigation, deletion or panic from getting ahead of the actions most likely to limit harm.

Stabilise

Stop the action that is creating immediate loss or additional access. Leave the conversation, disconnect remote access or contact the payment provider.

Verify

Start a new contact through a source you trust. Do not use a number, link or account supplied by the person or page you are checking.

Contain

Secure the account or device that can affect the largest number of connected services, then work outward in a deliberate order.

Preserve

Keep relevant messages, URLs, transaction details and timestamps before deleting content or closing accounts.

Report

Use the relevant provider, payment service or public authority, and create a concise record that separates observed facts from assumptions.

Guidance library

Detailed help for common incidents and decisions.

Each guide explains why the order matters, where individual action helps and where the underlying risk sits outside the user’s control.

Data exposure

After a data breach, the password is only one part of the problem

The lasting risk often comes from information that cannot be changed and may be reused in convincing messages later.

9 min read02

Fraud & manipulation

The second scam: when “recovery” becomes another form of fraud

Why people who have already lost money are targeted again—and how to recognise the pattern before paying twice.

7 min read03

Scams & manipulation

Pause the pressure: how to spot an impersonation scam

A calm verification routine for messages designed to make you act before you think.

8 min read04

Accounts & devices

Secure the account that can reset everything else

A practical hardening checklist for your primary email account—the key to many other accounts.

7 min read05

Personal data & exposure

Reduce your public data without disappearing

Map what strangers can find and remove exposure that serves no useful purpose.

9 min read06

Incident response

What to do after an account compromise

Contain the incident, protect connected accounts and preserve the information you may need later.

10 min read07

Information integrity

Verify before you trust: a routine for uncertain content

A lightweight method for checking urgent claims, copied media and confident online advice.

7 min read