Keyloggers are among the most frightening tools in the hands of a skilled hacker. They are malicious devices or malware applications that enable hackers to capture every keystroke that you type.
Most Dangerous Keyloggers
You need to be aware of the different types of keyloggers and know how to protect against them. Here are some of the most common keyloggers infecting the Internet and some tips to recognize and guard against them.
Spyrix
This is one of the most dangerous keyloggers that hackers used to exploit their victims. One of the scariest things about it is that the application is undetectable to most antivirus applications. The keylogger can be accessed by any device with a modern web browser, which means that hackers can use it from across the world.
Best free keylogger
This keylogger uses sophisticated machine learning capabilities to decipher text that users type. Most other keyloggers are only useful for capturing passwords and financial data, because the hacker can use a search function to identify the point that the user typed in the login address. This one gives them much deeper insights into your behavior by being able to decipher the meaning behind text that would otherwise be harder to read.
Wolfeye keylogger
This keylogger was so sophisticated, that it actually received a German award for innovation. It is frequently used by hackers to spy on their target social media activity.
Hardware keyloggers
Hardware keyloggers are another common threat that you need to be aware of. They are installed in the back of a computer or other device. If you don’t notice them physically, then they are virtually invisible if you are trying to look through your system directory for traces of malicious software.
How can you identify and protect against keyloggers?
Keyloggers are very difficult to protect against if you don’t know what to look for. A team of IST computer security division experts have been studying these malicious devices for the past 26 years. Here are some lessons that they have shared.
Require applications to be whitelisted
Software based keyloggers are rarely installed manually by the hacker. The hacker usually dupes their target into downloading them through sophisticated social engineering strategies. The application is usually installed by tricking the user into thinking that it is a common file that they work with every day, such as a Microsoft Word document.
You will be able to minimize the risk of downloading a keylogger by requiring all applications to be whitelisted first. This will mean that applications won’t be installed without your permission.
Regularly inspect your registry
Many malicious programs are designed to be undetectable to malware protection technology. This means that you need to carefully review your registry to identify them. It is a good idea to inspect your registry at least once every other week.
You will obviously notice a lot of different types of programs when you are looking at your rootkit. You should go to explorer.exe and click on the “Threads” tab to see a list of known programs. Each program will have its own TID. If you can’t determine the purpose of a program, then it is a good idea to stop it from running. You should always Google the name of the application to find out. Some of them will easily be identifiable as malware.
Use the most recent malware protection software
Some malware protection applications are not equipped to handle recent types of malware. You are going to need to make sure that you use the latest protection. Here are some things to assess before choosing a malware protection tool to guard against keyloggers:
- Make sure that they offer real-time protection. Many people were nearly duped into downloading a keylogger by a hacker impersonating someone that they had legitimate business with, because the keylogger was disguised as another application. The only reason the keylogger was discovered was that the user had real-time protection from their malware protection technology, which identified it and prevented it from being installed.
- The software needs to use the latest libraries. Otherwise, it might not have the recent keyloggers in its database, which means that they might not be detectable.
Even the most sophisticated malware protection tools aren’t guaranteed to stop keyloggers. However, the odds are much better than if you used an outdated application.