The proxy the link is linked to may be an adware or clickbait. This is a site we do not want, advertising, etc. can guide the purpose. This is the most innocent thing that can happen to us. The network to which our computer is connected may be infected by a worm or a malicious software such as trojan and virus may be installed on our information system.

This software may consume resources such as CPU, RAM, memory in our system in accordance with its coding purpose. It can provide a backdoor to our system, hijack our saved passwords, or make our network part of a botnet.

In this last scenario, the cybercriminal can use our information system as a tool in the next cyber crimes he will commit. In other words, cyber attack or cyber crime may appear to originate from the IP or MAC address of your system.

For example, if you did not earn such a profit after clicking on a link promising to receive a gift card, you can assume that the link contains malicious intent.

In addition, if the link leads to pages you do not want, opens more than one page, downloads to your computer/system unintentionally after clicking, opens pop-up windows that prompt you to take a certain action, it means that it is not a good piece of software.

There will also be long-term effects. Such as decreased performance of your computer, loading of files that you had not noticed before, changing file names and locations.

Personal information such as name, surname, date of birth may provide details for social engineering attacks that may be organized against you later on.

Again, passwords for accessing different platforms can open the door to identity theft, which we call identity theft. Stealing the access passwords for accessing the online services of financial institutions will cause you direct material damage.

• First of all, we should close the opened pages immediately and ignore the directions and directions in the pop-up windows.


• We must immediately disconnect the relevant information system from the internet network.


• If necessary, we should disconnect our other critical devices connected to the same network from the network.


• We must renew the access passwords that allow us to connect to the Internet network (WAN, VLAN, etc.).


• From the control panel of the router that provides Internet access, we can obtain the latest logs and save them by considering every possibility.


• These logs are important to prove that we are not the perpetrators if a crime has been committed with our system.


• If there is a suspicion that a crime has been committed with the system we clicked on, or if the system may be subject to any administrative, judicial or criminal investigation, we should not shut down the system in order to obtain evidence from the system by digital forensic analysis method.


• We must keep the system connected to the power supply.


• If we suspect that a crime has been committed with the system we clicked on, we should forward the issue to the relevant authorities such as the cyber crimes bureau and the prosecutor's office.


• If we clicked on the link from a device belonging to the company we work for, we should report the issue to the company's information security team without hesitation.


• We should store our sensitive or important data stored in the system on an external disk, taking into account every possibility.


• We can preferably delete data that does not need to be in the system.


• The relevant information system should be scanned with an up-to-date antivirus program. We should apply this process in case of what happens to the external disk where we store the data.


• We must log out (log out) from e-mail accounts, social media accounts or communication apps that are open on our computer or that we have given the "trust this computer" command (Single-sign-on).


• We must change the access passwords in these accounts from another trusted system and activate multi-factor authentication (MFA).


• We must deactivate password storage applications such as keepass and password safe on our computer, and change the access passwords for these applications from a secure device.