Detecting Keystroke Loggers

People on the move need to access email, online banking and other sensitive information. Most of us will use an internet cafe or library to do this. The big problem is someone could be spying on you and you could be giving them a lot of personal information they can instantly use such as you email username and password or your login details for your bank account.

How do they manage to do that? They use a KSL (keystroke logger).

Incase you don’t know what a KSL is then here is a summary:
- It is surveillance software installed on a PC that detects & records what a user does. Anything you type or copy will be recorded to a file including paasswords, usernames, websites visited, emails etc.
- It is invisible to the user. It doesn’t show up in the “running process” list, add/remove programs list or any other normal way of detecting a piece of software installed on a PC. It can even be installed remotely meaning access to the infected PC isn’t necessary to install the KSL or recover the collected data.
- Most keystroke logging software also logs the windows clipboard meaning if you copy and paiste this WILL be recorded and recoverable by the person who installed it on the infected PC.
- All logs are time and date stamped for ease of use.

In short, if the computer you are using has a KSL installed someone will have access to whatever you have looked at - email, online banking, MSN Messenger chats etc. Anything you do that involves text will be recorded, even if you NEVER typed it (e.g. bookmarked web addresses).

However there is a way to minimise risking your personal information.

A KSL at some point will have to write the information it gathers to a file. This is the KSL’s weak point. This is how you can tell if the PC you are using is infected.

This is where KL-Detector comes in. It monitors disk-writes and then reports the written files to you. It WON’T remove the KSL, it will just let you know if it’s there on the PC you are using.

This is a very simple to use application. You don’t have to install it to use it. It works on Windows NT 3.51 SP3, Windows 2000, and Windows XP - NOT Windows 95, 98 or Me.

It will detect which files are being written to the hard disk. So for a few minutes just surf a few random pages, open Notepad or Wordpad (Start > All Programs > Accessories) and write a few random words. After maybe 3 to 5 minutes double click the icon that is in the lower right hand side of the taskbar and it will have a report for you.

Now you will know if the computer you are about to use for personal business is infected or not.

Download the program. (FREE)

Unzip it and find the KL-Detector.exe file.

Click it and follow the on screen instructions.