Keylogger

What is a Keylogger?

Welcome back, my novice hackers!

A keylogger is software that tracks or logs the keys struck on your keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that you don’t know that your actions are being monitored. This is usually done with malicious intent to collect your account information, credit card numbers, user names, passwords, and other private data. legitimate uses do exist for keyloggers. Parents can monitor their children’s online activity or law enforcement may use it to analyze and track incidents linked to the use of personal computers, and employers can make sure their employees are working instead of surfing the web all day.

keyloggers can pose a serious threat to users, as they can be used to intercept passwords and other confidential information entered via the keyboard. As a result, cybercriminals can get PIN codes and account numbers for your financial accounts, passwords to your email and social networking accounts and then use this information to take your money, steal your identity and possibly extort information and money from your friends and family.

How do you detect a keylogger?

Keyloggers are tricky to detect. Some signs that you may have a keylogger on your device include: slower performance when web browsing, your mouse or keystrokes pause or don’t show up onscreen as what you are actually typing or if you receive error screens when loading graphics or web pages.

How keylogger Spread

1. Keyloggers can be installed when a user clicks on a link or opens an attachment/file from a phishing mail

2. Keyloggers can be installed through webpage script. This is done by exploiting a vulnerable browser and the keylogger is     launched when the user visits the malicious website.

3. A keylogger can be installed when a user opens a file attached to an email

4. A keylogger can be installed via a web page script which exploits a browser vulnerability. The program will automatically be     launched when a user visits an infected site

5. A keylogger can exploit an infected system and is sometimes capable to download and install other malware to the system.

How Hackers Install a keylogger

A hacker employs a Trojan virus as a delivery tool to install a keylogger. But way before one is downloaded onto your system, a hacker will use two different methods to get it into your computer.

The first method involves phishing. Phishing is the act of faking an email from a legitimate company to fish for passwords and credit card numbers. Sometimes, these emails contain attachments which download programs stealthily into your computer once you click on them.

For the second method, the hacker researches on his intended victim beforehand in order to find a weakness in her or his online habits. Let's say a hacker finds out the victim habitually visits porn sites, the hacker might craft an email with a fake coupon for a membership into an exclusive erotic website. Since this method targets a particular fondness of the victim, there's a large chance of success that the he or she will download the fake attachment, unknowingly installing the keylogger.

4 best practices for detecting and removing keyloggers

The advice below represents what's generally considered as the most effective steps to take to minimize the impact of unwanted keyloggers.

1. Keep antivirus and anti-rootkit protection up to date

As keyloggers often come bundled with other forms of malware, discovering keylogger malware might be an indicator of a wider attack or infection. Up-to-date antivirus protection and anti-rootkit protectors will remove known keylogger malware, according to Jeff Wichman, practice director for Optiv Security, but may warrant further investigation to determine whether the keylogger was just one component of a larger attack.

2. Use anti-keylogger software

Dedicated anti-logger software is designed to encrypt keystrokes as well as scan for and remove known loggers and flag unusual keylogging-like behavior on the machine. Blocking root access for unauthorized applications and blacklisting known spyware apps will also help.

3. Consider virtual onscreen keyboards

Virtual onscreen keyboards reduce the chance of being keylogged as they input information in a different way to physical keyboards. This might impact user productivity, isn’t foolproof against all kinds of keystroke monitoring software, and doesn’t eliminate the cause of the problem.

4. Have a strong password policy

While checking task managers for unknown or suspicious installations, and recognizing odd occurrences such as keys pausing or not displaying on screen when typing can help individuals detect keyloggers in certain cases, advises Bain, the best way for organizations to stay safe is to ensure that their password policy is multi-faceted, and that two-factor authentication is implemented across company accounts and devices. It’s important to never assume that the average antivirus technology is enough.

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