EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The term ‘keylogger’ itself is neutral, and the word describes the program’s function. Most sources define a keylogger as a software program designed to secretly monitor and log all keystrokes. There is a lot of legitimate software which is designed to allow administrators to track what employees do throughout the day, or to allow users to track the activity of third parties on their computers. However, the ethical boundary between justified monitoring and espionage is a fine line. Legitimate software is often used deliberately to steal confidential user information such as passwords.
Most modern keyloggers are considered to be legitimate software or hardware and are sold on the open market. Developers and vendors offer a long list of cases in which it would be legal and appropriate to use keyloggers, including: Parental control, Company security, law enforcement,Jealous spouses or partners can use a keylogger and many more reasons.
But today, keyloggers are mainly used to steal user data relating to various online payment systems, and virus writers are constantly writing new keylogger Trojans for this very purpose.Furthermore, many keyloggers hide themselves in the system (i.e. they have rootkit functionality), which makes them fully-fledged Trojan programs. Although keylogger programs are promoted for benign purposes like allowing parents to monitor their children's whereabouts on the Internet, most privacy advocates agree that the potential for abuse is so great that legislation should be enacted to clearly make the unauthorized use of keyloggers a criminal offense.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Unlike other types of malicious program, keyloggers present no threat to the system itself. Nevertheless, they 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, cyber criminals can get PIN codes and account numbers for e-payment systems, passwords to online gaming accounts, email addresses, user names, email passwords etc.
Once a cyber criminal has got hold of confidential user data, s/he can easily transfer money from the user’s account or access the user’s online gaming account. Unfortunately access to confidential data can sometimes have consequences which are far more serious than an individual’s loss of a few dollars. Keyloggers can be used as tools in both industrial and political espionage, accessing data which may include proprietary commercial information and classified government material which could compromise the security of commercial and state-owned organizations (for example, by stealing private encryption keys).
Keyloggers, phishing and social engineering are currently the main methods being used in cyber fraud. Users who are aware of security issues can easily protect themselves against phishing by ignoring phishing emails and by not entering any personal information on suspicious websites. It is more difficult, however, for users to combat keyloggers; the only possible method is to use an appropriate security solution, as it's usually impossible for a user to tell that a keylogger has been installed on his/ her machine.
In recent years, we have seen a considerable increase in the number of different kinds of malicious programs which have keylogging functionality. No Internet user is immune to cyber criminals, no matter where in the world s/he is located and no matter what organization s/he works for.
EXPERIENCES,FACTS & OBSERVATIONS
One of VeriSign's recent reports notes that in recent years, the company has seen a rapid growth in the number of malicious programs that have keylogging functionality. Source: iDefense, a VeriSign Company
According to research conducted by John Bambenek, an analyst at the SANS Institute, approximately 10 million computers in the US alone are currently infected with a malicious program which has a keylogging function. Using these figures, together with the total number of American users of e-payment systems, possible losses are estimated to be $24.3 million.
In February 2006, the Brazilian police arrested 55 people involved in spreading malicious programs which were used to steal user information and passwords to banking systems. The keyloggers were activated when the users visited their banks’ websites, and secretly tracked and subsequently sent all data entered on these pages to cyber criminals. The total amount of money stolen from 200 client accounts at six of the country’s banks totaled $4.7million.
In early 2005 the London police prevented a serious attempt to steal banking data. After attacking a banking system, the cyber criminals had planned to steal $423 million from Sumitomo Mitsui’s London-based offices. The main component of the Trojan used, which was created by the 32-year-old Yeron Bolondi, was a keylogger that allowed the criminals to track all the keystrokes entered when victims used the bank’s client interface.
Construction of keylogger
The most common methods used to construct keylogging software are as follows: * a system hook which intercepts notification that a key has been pressed (installed using WinAPI SetWindowsHook for messages sent by the window procedure. It is most often written in C) * a cyclical information keyboard request from the keyboard (using WinAPI Get(Async)KeyState or GetKeyboardState – most often written in Visual Basic, sometimes in Borland Delphi) * using a filter driver (requires specialized knowledge and is written in C).
A rough breakdown of the different types of keyloggers is shown in the pie chart below:

Recently, keyloggers that disguise their files to keep them from being found manually or by an antivirus program have become more numerous. These stealth techniques are called rootkit technologies. There are two main rootkit technologies used by keyloggers: * masking in user mode; * masking in kernel mode.
A rough breakdown of the techniques used by keyloggers to mask their activity is shown in the pie chart below:

How keyloggers spread
Keyloggers spread in much the same way that other malicious programs spread. Excluding cases where keyloggers are purchased and installed by a jealous spouse or partner, and the use of keyloggers by security services, keyloggers are mostly spread using the following methods): * a keylogger can be installed when a user opens a file attached to an email; * a keylogger can be installed when a file is launched from an open-access directory on a P2P network; * 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 a infected site; * a keylogger can be installed by another malicious program already present on the victim machine, if the program is capable of downloading and installing other malware to the system.

THOUGHT QUESTION
1)No, I don’t think my computer is monitored by any one. If you are honest and trustworthy no one would try to monitor your computer. Yes if an un-known person is doing it for his own personal benefits, then I’m unaware of it.
2) Definitely if they found out that I’m monitoring them they would get angry at me. I think breaking somebody’s privacy boundary isn’t right.
3)May be somebody would want to know the third parties private data(example email password).you can let others use your computer and get their personal information.
4)Having a good anti-virus is a good technique to know whether there is a keylogger in a computer or not. The anti-virus will itself get rid of it.

Conclusion & solutions * Even though keylogger developers market their products as legitimate software, most keyloggers can be used to steal personal user data and in political and industrial espionage. * At present, keyloggers – together with phishing and social engineering methods – are one of the most commonly used methods of cyber fraud. * IT security companies have recorded a steady increase in the number of malicious programs that have keylogging functionality. * Reports show that there is an increased tendency to use rootkit technologies in keylogging software, to help the keylogger evade manual detection and detection by antivirus solutions. * Only dedicated protection can detect that a keylogger is being used for spy purposes.

The following measures can be taken to protect against keyloggers:

* use a standard antivirus that can be adjusted to detect potentially malicious software (default settings for many products); * proactive protection will protect the system against new ,modifications of existing keyloggers; * use a virtual keyboard or a system to generate one-time passwords to protect against keylogging software and hardware.

SOURCE www.ip-guard.com www.webopedia.com/TERM/K/keylogger.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystroke_logging searchmidmarketsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/keylogger www.articles.forensicfocus.com/2011/07/12/computer-monitoring-software-vs-hardware-
Cached - Similar