Keep keyloggers away- tips and tools to get rid of undesired digital guests
Some definitions
Hardware keyloggers: Hardware devices that can look like a keyboard or a WiFi adapter, which monitor all the victim's activity and report it. They require a physical access to the computer and, for this reason, they're usually installed by employers to lawfully monitor their employees' computers (see here for some examples).
Software keyloggers: software that hides inside the operating systems and captures all your keystrokes, to later report all your activity via email or web. Software keyloggers can be used for legitimate purposes, such as employee monitoring, or for illegal activities like identity theft or hacking personal and bank accounts.
In the latter case, we have to consider them as malware.
Keyloggers (defined as above) are among the peskiest categories of malware around.
They lie undetected inside your operating systems and capture all your keystrokes, to report all your activity to the attacker. They usually keep a low profile and do a good job in hiding themselves in the deepest layers of your OS, but there's something you can do to prevent or, at least, limit the likelihoods of being infected.
Hardware keyloggers: Hardware devices that can look like a keyboard or a WiFi adapter, which monitor all the victim's activity and report it. They require a physical access to the computer and, for this reason, they're usually installed by employers to lawfully monitor their employees' computers (see here for some examples).
Software keyloggers: software that hides inside the operating systems and captures all your keystrokes, to later report all your activity via email or web. Software keyloggers can be used for legitimate purposes, such as employee monitoring, or for illegal activities like identity theft or hacking personal and bank accounts.
In the latter case, we have to consider them as malware.
Keyloggers (defined as above) are among the peskiest categories of malware around.
They lie undetected inside your operating systems and capture all your keystrokes, to report all your activity to the attacker. They usually keep a low profile and do a good job in hiding themselves in the deepest layers of your OS, but there's something you can do to prevent or, at least, limit the likelihoods of being infected.
What you can do
- Use a firewall: This is pretty straightforward; keyloggers need to transmit your data to the attacker via web and they're a gun loaded with blanks if you can block those packets. If you activate a firewall and filter all the programs you're not sure about, along with the programs which don't need to access the Internet for them to work, that'll prevent any harm from being done. For Mac, you need to activate Apple Firewall (disabled by default) by going to System Preferences/Security & Privacy/Firewall and clicking the lock to enter your administrative password. For Windows, block all the programs that don't need to access the Internet by using Windows Firewall (Control Panel/System & Security/ Windows Firewall) and clicking Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall, so you can decide, for each application installed on your PC, which ones you want to allow and which to deny access.
- Use a password manager: Like I've already explained in more detail in my previous post LastPass, strong passwords for the web, using a password manager is the safest solution against key loggers, as they can't capture a password if you don't enter it. LastPass stores passwords in an online database.
- Keep your security software updated: Some antivirus and anti-malware programs such as Malwarebyte's Antimalware are capable of detecting some key logger, even though this isn't their specific job, but it's understood you need to update your defense suite regularly, if you want this to work.
Specific tools
You need to be very cautious when it comes down to specific anti-keylogger programs, because several key loggers disguise themselves as security tools and you want to refer to well-established sources for this.
I've personally tested for you two anti-keyloggers:
- Zemana AntiLogger Free: It's a very stripped-down program, that supplies a specific protection rather than a global solution. The free version sits in background and encrypts all of your keystrokes making them unreadable for a potential attacker. The full version ($ 29.95) provides a real-time protection, malware alerts and protection against financial malware, along with a cloud-based protection tool called IntelliGuard, that "will block in real time information stealing malware trying to start on your PC". Zemana supports 64-bit applications also with its free version, unlike other similar tools.
- SpyShelter Stop-Logger: The free version offers more advanced options than Zemana (a key-logger, screen capture and clipboard protection, along with an Anti-Kernel Mode logger) but doesn't support 64-bit applications nor provides key encryption. These features are supplied by the Premium version ($24.95).
Wrap-up
Key-loggers are a serious threat for your financial and personal security and the major antivirus programs don't always detect them.
There are some steps you can take to prevent an infection and you can install specific software to check for their presence in your system.
I've personally tested two anti-keyloggers: Zemana Anti Logger and SpyShelter Stop-Logger.
They're both reliable programs but Zemana deserves a higher score in my opinion, as the free version supports both 64-bit systems (and most operating systems are gradually adopting a 64-bit architecture) and encryption.
I hope this brief contribution can raise awareness about this pesky malware, because it can compromise your finance and your reputation in a heartbeat.
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