Physical Keylogger
I know a couple of people who likes to surf but doesn’t have broadband at home, so since they can’t go to the office during weekends, they patronise cyber cafes.
There’s nothing wrong with that but I’ve always told them to be extra careful with their sensitive data especially with their bank logins. Sometimes you just can’t trust the people who hang around there or those who manages these shops.
The product that I’m highlighting today is just proof that your data can be compromised easily. It is known as a physical keylogger.
A keylogger is a program that records all of your keystrokes. Whatever you typed will be recorded for the other party to view, with the intention to steal your logins and confidential data. While security programs can detect if any sofware is secretly recording your keystrokes, they aren’t able to detect the physical keylogger.
This hardware however is installed between your keyboard and your CPU and is hardly noticeable. All they have to do is plug it in and leave it there even for weeks or months. It’s stored in non-volatile flash memory that doesn’t require battery to retain storage.
They can unplug it and retrieve all of the keystrokes on another computer. That means they don’t have to gain access to the computer’s operating system to record the key strokes. See how easy it is to grab other people’s information just by plugging this on their computer. People can go to other people’s PC, plug this in and come back in a few days or weeks, take it out and retrieve the data on their PC. Even you can do this on a cybercafe.
By looking at the picture above, the extra component is hardly noticeable. This product is sold for USD$149 and works on ALL PC operating systems (Windows 95,98,ME,NT,XP,2000 Linux, Beos, OS/2, Dos, Sun Solaris).
So if you really have to access your banking account in an environment you can’t trust, what can you do?
On windows, you can use the “on screen keyboard”. You can access it via Programs > Accessories > Accesibility > On screen keyboard. The keylogger will record this as mouse clicks.
You can use this to login to your email or banking but I would advise you to change the password once you’re back on your own secured personal computer.
While we’re on security, don’t forget to have a good strong password to protect againts online cracker/hacker.
May 18th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Very useful info indeed.
May 18th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
yeah,,indeed,, never use cc for bank login or purchase things with cc
May 19th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I must say that a lot of keyloggers intercept mouse clicks also…actually almost all of them. The only thing that can help in this case is a special anti-keylogging software, that has its own Virtual Keyboard, that is safe to use. Can recommend Privacy Keyboard as the one, that uses this technology. BTW it takes the first place on http://www.anti-keylogger.org. Well, you can use any another software but please remember that it should:
1)be special anti-keylogging tool;
2)have a virtual keyboard.
May 20th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Wahhh… thanks for sharing dis. So scary nowadays. People getting smarter.
May 21st, 2007 at 12:29 pm
i’ve read this about 2-3 months ago…erm, do you guys think this thing sold in Malaysia???? I’m thinking of buying it..haha. Maybe in the future it will very usefull..hehe. For example, you find out one of ur housemates or friends are backstabber…so you can use this thing to teach him some lesson..huhu. (p/s:I didn’t notice that i have an evil side..muahahahaha)
May 28th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I am making available a new free service to protect against spyware when using Internet cafes: http://kyps.net