Separate Anti-Keylogging Protection: Who Needs it Most?
If there still are few unprotected computers left, I haven't seen any.
Every emerging threat causes means of defense to appear. Anti-viruses
and firewalls were the first. Now most computers have also an anti-spy
program installed. More and more often experts say that some computers
need autonomous anti-keylogging protection as well. Or do they? Isn't a separate anti-keylogger on a PC a little too much?
Can a user do without it--why so much attention to a particular type
of what is usually called spyware? Well, the threat is extremely
serious, that's why. Information is not a liquid, but, unfortunately, it tends to leak
quite the same way. First something trickles out, then... Whole
businesses may be washed away in no time; and the damage which data
leak cause to state and government institutions can be terrifying.
Data leakage is in a way comparable with a break of a dam, with one
clear-cut distinction that makes all the difference. There is also
another factor- information value. A tiny drop of information, if
lost, is likely to cause irretrievable damage. Money losses due to online fraud are only the tip of an iceberg. There
may be irremediable mischief that can never be repaid. It happens when
confidential information people have to consign to authorities is
stolen. Information having to do with people's health, work,
education, families, can be pinched, not out of simple curiosity, of
course. Addresses and phone numbers, school and university records,
tests results, police records, health records, insurances, tax
records, voters lists and so long and so forth--all these contain bits
of information that if made public can probably do harm to people
mentioned there. How simple and cheap it is now to get hold of spy software! Scores of
various spy programs are available online, and many of them are free.
Just imagine that they are within a mouse click from anyone - and do
thank God if it is only some suspicious spouse. Of course, there are means of defense. Loads of programs are specially
created to counteract spy software, and they are also available
online. Why data stealing is flourishing then? The problem is that the
"means of defense" are, as it often happens, half a step behind "means
of offense". Signature bases which all the anti-spy software depend
on, are made up using clips of spy programs' codes; if a base doesn't
contain the "autograph" of some spy program or virus, users are
helpless against it. And what if the spy software is brand-new? What
if it is tailor-made for one particular computer or network (not
yours, if you are lucky enough) to be used only once? What if a
respectable program for monitoring is used for spy purposes? So, even if your PC does have some anti-monitoring or anti-spy software with a signature base, your PC may be being scanned right now anyway. One useful tip: When reading an article where some term (for example,
"spyware") is used often, make sure the author and you mean the same.
There is quite a mess in definitions when it comes to types of
software. Not surprisingly for those who still remember English
lessons at school, every noun ending with "ware" is a mixture of
objects having something in common--usually used for similar purposes.
So it tends to be when "ware" is short for "software". Sometimes it's
pretty tricky to define exactly what software it includes. If software collects information without users' knowledge and
transmits it, such a program is usually automatically labeled
"spyware" no matter how valuable this information is. Well, let's use
common sense. If spyware is a mixture of different software products
based on different principles, it's unlikely that there can be one
solution that could work against all of them. Absolute protection is a
pie in the sky. What kind of spyware is the most dangerous? Not just annoying, like
most adware, but really dangerous? There is particular kind of
software specially created for stealing information. One of the most
effective ways of stealing information from a PC is capturing
keystrokes. It would not be out of place to know the enemy better.
Well, here they are: Keylogging Programs (keyloggers, key loggers, keystroke loggers, key
recorders, key trappers, key capture programs, etc.) belong to the
group of tools that monitor PC activity. A small, fairly simple
program (a programmer can write a plain one in a couple of days)
captures everything the user is doing – keystrokes, mouse clicks,
files opened and closed, sites visited. A little more sophisticated
programs of this kind also capture text from windows and make
screenshots (record everything displayed on the screen) – so the
information is captured even if the user doesn't type anything, just
opens the views the file. Software products of this type were initially designed solely for
recording keystroke information including the system keys, to the
special log file to be analyzed by the person who installed this
program. Log files can be sent within the network to the shared place,
to the ftp server in the Internet, by e-mail etc. These new software
products have many additional functions - they intercept information
from windows, capture mouse clicks, make snapshots of the screen and
active windows, record all received and sent emails, monitor file
activity, monitor system register, monitor the printer queue,
intercept sound from the microphone and video pictures from the
web-camera connected to the computer, etc. Keyloggers can be included into freeware, shareware, and even into
commercial programs. Trojan programs, viruses and Internet worms
pretty often contain keyloggers, too. That is why it is so important
to apply special anti-keylogging protection. Who needs separate anti-keylogging protection? We can easily deduce
the answer: Everybody whose data are really valuable and who will suffer great
losses if they are stolen. Everybody who deals with other people's confidential information. Everybody whose work requires keeping information in secrecy. And anybody else, who simply doesn't like the idea of his or her
information (even if it isn't a top secret) leaking anywhere. Alexandra Gamanenko currently works at the Raytown Corporation, LLC -- an independent software developing company.
visit its website at: http://www.anti-keyloggers.com
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