West Visayas State University Janiuay Campus School of Information and Communication Technology Janiuay, Iloilo
KEYSTROKE LOGGING (KEYLOGGING) Description: A keylogger is
a
software
program
that
is
installed
on
a
computer, often by a Trojan horse or virus. Keyloggers capture and
record
user
keystrokes.
The
data
captured
is
then
transmitted to a remote computer. Background: An early keylogger was written by Perry Kivolowitz and posted to the Usenet news group net.unix-wizards,net.sources on November 17,
1983. The
restricting program
posting
access
operated
seems
to
be
a
motivating
to /dev/kmem on Unix systems. by
locating
and
dumping
factor
in
The user-mode
character
lists
(clists) as they were assembled in the Unix kernel. In
the
Embassy
1970s, and
Petersburg. They
spies
installed
Consulate installed
keystroke
buildings the
bugs
in
loggers Moscow
in
the and
in Selectric II
US St and
Selectric III electric typewriters. Soviet embassies used manual typewriters, rather than electric typewriters, for classified information—apparently because they are immune to such bugs. As of 2013, Russian special services still use typewriters.
West Visayas State University Janiuay Campus School of Information and Communication Technology Janiuay, Iloilo
Keystroke logging, often referred to as keylogging or Keyboard Capturing, is the action of recording (or logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored. It also has very legitimate uses in studies of human-computer methods,
interaction.
ranging
from
There
hardware
are
and
numerous
keylogging
software-based
approaches
to acoustic analysis. Danger level: High Prevalence: High Worst case damage: While keyloggers will not damage your computer system per se, because other
they
can
sensitive
threat.
capture data,
passwords,
they
should
credit
be
card
regarded
numbers
as
a
and
serious
West Visayas State University Janiuay Campus School of Information and Communication Technology Janiuay, Iloilo
Prevention, detection and removal: Currently there is no easy way to prevent keylogging. For the time being, therefore, the best strategy is to use common sense and a combination of several methods:
Monitoring
which
programs
are
running:
a
user
should
constantly be aware of which programs are installed on his or her machine.
Antispyware:
antispyware
applications
are
able
to
detect
many keyloggers and remove them.
Firewall: enabling a firewall does not stop keyloggers per se, but it may prevent transmission of the logged material, if properly configured.
Network monitors: also known as reverse-firewalls, network monitors
can
be
used
to
alert
the
user
whenever
an
application attempts to make a network connection. The user may then be able to prevent the keylogger from transmitting the logged data.
Anti-keylogging packages
use
keyloggers
to
software:keylogger “signatures”
from
identify
remove
and
a
detection list them.
software
of
all
Other
known
detection
software doesn’t use a signature list, but instead analyzes the
working
suspected approach
methods
keylogging is
that
also be blocked.
of
modules
software.
legitimate,
A
in
the
drawback
PC,
and
blocks
of
the
latter
non-keylogging
software
may
West Visayas State University Janiuay Campus School of Information and Communication Technology Janiuay, Iloilo
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT IN THE SUBJECT I.T. 214 (Security and Standardization)
SUBMITTED BY:
WILLIAM VINCENT B. LEBANAN BS INFOTECH
III
SUBMITTED BY:
LEA R. MARCON-GABAWA INSTRUCTOR