Objective ad verbatim:
“A keylogger program captures everything that a user enters on a computer keyboard. The program runs invisibly in the background and cannot be detected even from the Windows Task Manager. In this project, you download and use a keyboard logger.” (Ciampa, 2009)
Process:
1. Firstly, I opened up my trusty Mozilla Firefox and headed to http://www.softdd.com/keystrokerecorder/index.html whilst painfully ignoring the security warnings that the page was dangerous. Following the instructions, I downloaded the application to a thumb drive.
2. Before doing anything else, I ran an anti-virus scan on the file downloaded. No threats were found in the installation.
3. I then opened up VMWare and started up Windows XP. Next, I attached my thumb drive to the Virtual Machine and ran the Keyboard Collector Trial Setup application.
4. When the program finished its install, I launched it. I made sure “Always Run (Ignore Start Time)” was checked and pressed “Activate/Start” to activate the keylogger.
5. Next, I created a text document on the desktop.
6. I wrote in the document.
7. I went back to the keylogger to check the results of the key capturing, they were very alarming. The log was very readable, preserved almost perfectly as it was typed and considering the lack of warnings that popped up, it was pretty much silent. (Though there were no anti-viruses instead on the Virtual Machine at all)
8. On further inspection during the keylogger’s runtime, it is discovered that the program is invisible in the task manager. I snooped around deeper and found a rouge process called kcol23.exe. It is barely noticeable to an average user.
9. Finally, I removed the keylogger from my Windows XP system and performed a system restore to be sure that the malware is totally wiped from the system.
Reflection:
Keyloggers are bad news. In fact, it’s pretty horrible news. It allows an attacker access to your authentication credentials. It will certainly cause a lot of loss whether it be as innocent as your game account or the money in your bank.
From this project, I can see how easy it is to look through logs with key strokes collected and steal information. Also, it is unnerving to see how easily a program can hide itself when it wants to, concealing the fact that it is there watching your every move and recording them down just for the hostile attacker.
Some people don’t even realize that their data is being stolen and recorded until it’s too late.
Sine Cera,
Jeremy Heng
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"
Hands-On Project 2.2 Sources
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