When a Friend’s Favour Turned Into an IT Emergency

This story starts with a Discord ping from a university friend who studied Games Design. We hadn’t spoken in about a year and a half, so seeing his message felt like finding a fiver in an old coat pocket—nice, but suspiciously convenient. Little did I know, that message would kick off an all-night IT adventure, complete with hacker drama and a surprise catch-up session.

My friend asked me to install a demo he’d supposedly made. Now, I’m all for supporting a mate’s creative endeavors, but something about it didn’t sit right. Installing random files? I don’t think so.

To test him, I pulled out the ultimate weapon: nostalgia. I fired off a quick "two truths and a lie" about our first-year uni flatmate shenanigans. If this was my real friend, he’d ace it, no problem. The response came back… and it was all truths. Ding ding ding! We have a fraudster. Hacker: 0, Me: 1.

At this point, I knew something was up. I switched platforms, messaged a couple of mutual friends, and confirmed that his account had been compromised. Time to go full IT superhero. Cue dramatic typing montage.

We jumped on a call, and my friend—a genius when it comes to designing worlds but not so much at securing them—looked to me for help. I walked him through the steps:

Reset your account password. Simple, but effective. Bye-bye, hacker!
Kick off logged-in devices. Nobody likes uninvited guests.
Trace the breach. Turns out, it was a basic phishing email. Not exactly Hollywood-level hacking. Imagine a villain saying "We’re in," only to realize they’re in a Gmail inbox.

Thankfully, the damage was minimal. No major theft, no compromised accounts—just a mildly bruised ego on his end. We spent the rest of the night making sure all his accounts were locked down.

Somewhere in the chaos, we started catching up. It’s funny how easily you can lose touch after university. By 3 AM, we’d gone from hacker-busting to reminiscing about the good old days.

So yeah, I didn’t wake up that morning expecting to moonlight as IT support, but I’m glad I did. The accounts were saved, the hacker was thwarted, and we’re now ensuring we don't loose touch and keep talking. Just not at 3 AM again.