The keylogging software category is made up of dedicated programs designed to track and log keystrokes. Keyloggers that fall into the first category are usually small devices that can be fixed to the keyboard or placed within a cable or the computer itself. Keyloggers can be divided into two categories: keylogging devices and keylogging software. This can be achieved using video surveillance: a hardware bug in the keyboard, wiring or the computer itself intercepting input/output substituting the keyboard driver using a filter driver in the keyboard stack intercepting kernel functions by any means possible (substituting addresses in system tables, splicing function code, etc.) intercepting DLL functions in user mode, and requesting information from the keyboard using standard documented methods. The main idea behind keyloggers is to get in between any two links in the chain of events between when a key is pressed and when information about that keystroke is displayed on the monitor. Once installed, the keylogger records all your keystrokes, and then e-mails the information and other data to the computer hacker.

Keyloggers can be installed without your knowledge or consent when you visit a Web site or read an e-mail, install a program, or perform other activities. Keyloggers have been around for a long time, but today they may be the most dangerous threat an enterprise faces.Ī keylogger is a piece of malicious software, usually called 'spyware' or 'malware,' that records every keystroke you make on a keyboard. Just look at some of the names done in by a tiny chunk of code in the last 12 months: RSA, Lockheed Martin, Epsilon, Oakridge Nuclear Weapons Lab, Sony, Iranian Nuclear Program and Linked-In to name just a few. Keyloggers are on the rise and they are no match for even the most security-conscious organizations. How keyloggers work and spread, why anti-virus applications won't stop them, and how you can protect your enterprise.

Keyloggers: The Most Dangerous Security Risk in Your Enterprise

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