Scenario: You are browsing a web site and suddenly you get a stream of messages on the right side of Windows saying your files have been encrypted or that you are infected with malware.
Step 1: Do not click on anything. Contact Great Lakes Technology Services for advice and remediation.
Step 1: Avoid clicking on anything within the notifications acknowledging, agreeing to, or installing anything. You can stop the stream by carefully looking in the upper right corner of one of the messages for the 3 dots which give you additional options. Single-click on the dots and select "turn off notifications from Chrome" (wording may be different or apply to different browser depending on use).
Step 2: Clear all browser history to ensure accidental re-visiting does not occur.
Step 3: Run a fully system scan using Windows Defender or any other already installed antivirus. This is a just-in-case measure, but the stream of messages seen is just a scare tactic meant to convince you that your PC is infected and persuade you to click on a message to install antivirus software. It is just a carefully coded web site, not an actual infection. As long as you didn't click on any of the messages or install any additional software using those messages you should be fine.
This is a common tactic called browser notification spam (or "scareware") where a malicious website tricks you into granting it permission to send you push notifications.
The scam works like this:
You visit a shady website
(sometimes via a malicious ad or redirect).
The site prompts you to "Allow" notifications,
often under the guise of a CAPTCHA, a video player, or a fake warning.
Once you click "Allow,"
the website uses the legitimate Chrome notification feature to send you fake, alarming messages claiming your computer is infected to trick you into clicking on them.
What You Should Do:
DO NOT click on the notification.
Interacting with it could redirect you to a malicious site or trick you into downloading actual malware. The most important step is to revoke the notification permission you unknowingly granted to the malicious website.
Steps to Stop the Notifications in Chrome:
Open Chrome and click the three-dot menu
(More) in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings.
Click on Privacy and security in the left menu.
Click on Site settings.
Under "Permissions," click on Notifications.
Scroll down to the "Allowed to send notifications"
list.
Look for any suspicious website URLs you don't recognize.
Click the three dots next to the malicious site's URL and select Block or Remove
You can also choose to block all future notification requests from popping up by toggling on "Use quieter messaging"
at the top of the Notifications settings page.
After blocking the source, you should also consider running a full scan with a reputable antivirus/antimalware program (like
Malwarebytes or your installed security software) just to be safe, in case you were exposed to actual threats on the original malicious site.