What are keyloggers?
How does it work?
How to protect yourself
Conclusion
What are keyloggers?
Keyloggers, also known as keystroke loggers, are small programs that are designed to capture keystrokes of another computer's keyboard. Some keyloggers can monitor any computer not only for what the user types, but all the websites that have been browsed, programs run, or to take snapshots of the screen. Keyloggers were first used for good purposes, such as to find errors on computer systems, monitoring children or employees for work. However, keyloggers have now adapted to the hacking world, and they are one of the most popular ways to hack passwords.
How does it work?
A keylogger program is first needed. One could download or even create one. There are many variations of keyloggers that are available and some have limited functions while others have more. Some keyloggers don't need access to the computer the hacker is trying to get to; instead they use the process of remote keylogging.
For remote keylogging, the keylogger needs to be sent to the victim that will store all the information into a database. This is done mostly by email. The keylogger must be downloaded on the other computer in order to work. So the keylogger is usually disguised as something else and is attached to another file. Then the user will download that file, not expecting anything, and then the keylogger will be released. Since it is required to download an application, the attached file's extension would have to become an .exe file.
After successfully planting the keylogger, it will store the files into a database for the hacker. But how will it store the files? How would the information be sent back to the hacker? The keylogger first creates a log folder that will have all the keystrokes, screenshots, programs run, etc from the remote computer. There are a few ways how a keylogger might send the logs back to the hacker. The most common way is by FTP. The hacker must have an FTP server set up with an account, and there he would be able to upload the data. An example of an FTP server website is the popular drivehq.com. Keyloggers must always hide themselves, of course. They have many different ways to do so, and the less efficient type of keyloggers would likely get caught right away. Some keyloggers are visible in the Task Manager, and they can be easily disabled there.
Keyloggers will catch any keystroke.
How to protect yourself
Most keyloggers are detected by anti-virus programs as soon as they're downloaded. Here are some other ways of protection:
- Be cautious of any attachments that need to be downloaded, especially exe files.
- Make sure you have an efficient anti-virus program and it is up-to-date.
- Check to see if the keylogger is shown in the Task Manager. Just look for a suspicious name that you are not familiar with, and then delete it by pressing "End Task".
- Do a full virus scan on computer.
- Report to the proper authorities.
- Change password or information immediately.
Keyloggers can be used for many purposes, but in this case they can be very dangerous. Keyloggers are rather similar to Trojans or phishing techniques, since it is attached to any file and stores information on a database for the hacker. But a decent anti-virus program should easily catch it and destroy it.
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