Keyloggers — Typing Spy

In a public place, doing private work on your laptop? Someone might be watching you. What if the spy is on your laptop?
Keylogger or keystroke logging is one of the oldest forms of malware. It is often used as part of large cyber attacks.

What are Keyloggers?

Keyloggers are software designed to track your keystrokes(I’m doing while writing this article). These keyloggers store your information and send them to the third party.
They are used to access information such as banking details, account passwords. Keyloggers are also used by the government for surveillance and security purposes.

Keyloggers working:

Keyloggers send the collected data to the hackers. Keylogger is a piece of a program with some algorithms that track the keystrokes by the user. If the algorithm is on the system it is software-based keyloggers. If the algorithm is on hardware and that hardware is nestled between the keyboard and the port then it is termed as hardware-based keyloggers.

Data can be sent to the hackers in form of log data via email or the source website. The amount of information collected by keylogger software can vary. The most basic forms may only collect the information typed into a single website or application. More sophisticated ones may record everything you type no matter the application, including information you copy and paste. Keyloggers can also log particular information such as GPS location, calls, messages, microphone, camera.

How hackers use keyloggers?

Keyloggers can be injected into the user system via some malicious sites. Keyloggers are basically the malware that can infect your system and even affect the devices connected with the system such as pen drives or phones. Keyloggers can steal information such as banking credentials, passwords or other critical information.

Keyloggers in use:

Keyloggers can also be used ethically. Legal keylogging apps are used by people to spy on their family members, friends or partner. But these apps are at risk of being attacked and data breach will lead to the leak of information of many users. Keyloggers are also used for testing, debugging and to improve user experience. Key logs can be analysed to fix issues/bugs.
Hardware keyloggers require physical presence for setup. Therefore attack using hardware logger is difficult (not impossible). Software keyloggers are much easier to be injected into the user’s system. These loggers are spread using phishing emails or infected drivers. These can also be packed with drivers provided by the manufacturer. In 2018, hundreds of models of HP laptops were shipped with keylogging code present in its touchpad drivers. The logging was disabled by default and was part of a debug tool left in by one of the company’s suppliers.

The only way to save your device from getting attacked is by using trusted links and websites. Unwanted emails may contain malicious links or files.
Stay tuned for more articles.