A keylogger, sometimes called a keystroke logger or keyboard capture, is a type of surveillance technology used to monitor and record each keystroke on a specific computer. Keylogger software is also available for use on smartphones, such as the Apple iPhone and Android devices.
Keylogger Homework 3.0 Download
A hardware-based keylogger is a small device that serves as a connector between the keyboard and the computer. The device is designed to resemble an ordinary keyboard PS/2 connector, part of the computer cabling or a USB adaptor, making it relatively easy for someone who wants to monitor a user's behavior to hide the device.
A keylogging software program does not require physical access to the user's computer for installation. It can be purposefully downloaded by someone who wants to monitor activity on a particular computer, or it can be malware downloaded unwittingly and executed as part of a rootkit or remote administration Trojan (RAT). The rootkit can launch and operate stealthily to evade manual detection or antivirus scans.
Most workstation keyboards plug into the back of the computer, keeping the connections out of the user's line of sight. A hardware keylogger may also come in the form of a module that is installed inside the keyboard itself. When the user types on the keyboard, the keylogger collects each keystroke and saves it as text in its own hard drive, which may have a memory capacity up to several gigabytes. The person who installed the keylogger must later return and physically remove the device to access the gathered information. There are also wireless keylogger sniffers that can intercept and decrypt data packets transferred between a wireless keyboard and its receiver.
A common software keylogger typically consists of two files that get installed in the same directory: a dynamic link library (DLL) file that does the recording and an executable file that installs the DLL file and triggers it. The keylogger program records each keystroke the user types and periodically uploads the information over the internet to whomever installed the program. Hackers can design keylogging software to use keyboard application program interfaces (APIs) to another application, malicious script injection or memory injection.
A user mode keylogger uses a Windows API to intercept keyboard and mouse movements. GetAsyncKeyState or GetKeyState API functions might also be captured depending on the keylogger. These keyloggers require the attacker to actively monitor each keypress.
A kernel mode keylogger is a more powerful and complex software keylogging method. It works with higher privileges and can be harder to locate in a system. Kernel mode keyloggers use filter drivers that can intercept keystrokes. They can also modify the internal Windows system through the kernel.
Due to the variety of keyloggers that use different techniques, no single detection or removal method is considered the most effective. Since keyloggers can manipulate an operating system kernel, examining a computer's Task Manager isn't necessarily enough to detect a keylogger.
Security software, such as an anti-keylogger software program, is designed specifically to scan for software-based keyloggers by comparing the files on a computer against a keylogger signature base or a checklist of common keylogger attributes. Using an anti-keylogger can be more effective than an antivirus or antispyware program. The latter may accidentally identify a keylogger as a legitimate program instead of spyware.
Depending on the technique an antispyware application uses, it may be able to locate and disable keylogger software with lower privileges than it has. Using a network monitor will ensure the user is notified each time an application tries to make a network connection, giving a security team the opportunity to stop any possible keylogger activity.
While visual inspection can identify hardware keyloggers, it is impractical and time-consuming to implement on a large scale. Instead, individuals can use a firewall to help protect against a keylogger. Since keyloggers transmit data back and forth from the victim to the attacker, the firewall could discover and prevent that data transfer.
Password managers that automatically fill in username and password fields may also help protect against keyloggers. Monitoring software and antivirus software can also keep track of a system's health and prevent keyloggers.
The use of keyloggers dates back to the 1970s, when the Soviet Union developed a hardware keylogging device for electric typewriters. The keylogger, called the Selectric bug, tracked the movements of the printhead by measuring the magnetic field emitted by the movements of the printhead. The Selectric bug targeted IBM Selectric typewriters and spied on U.S. diplomats in the U.S. embassy and consulate buildings in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Selectric keyloggers were found in 16 typewriters and were in use until 1984, when a U.S. ally who was a separate target of this operation caught the intrusion.
The use of keyloggers has broadened, notably starting in the 1990s. More keylogger malware was developed, meaning attackers didn't have to install hardware keyloggers, enabling attackers to steal private data, such as credit card numbers, from unsuspecting victims in a remote location. The use of keyloggers started to target home users for fraud, as well as in different industries for phishing purposes.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began warning hotel businesses about keyloggers, after an incident where a keylogger was found in hotels in Dallas, Texas. Publicly accessible computers in shared environments are good targets for keyloggers.
In 2015, a mod for the game Grand Theft Auto V had a keylogger hidden in it. In 2017, a keylogger was also found in HP laptops, which HP patched out, explaining that they were used as a debugging tool for the software.
Employers can install software to monitor what you do on your work-issued laptop or desktop. In the most watchful of workplaces, this may include keyloggers that can see everything you type or screenshot tools that track your productivity. What type of surveillance and security software is installed on your company computer is often based on two factors: how large the company is (and what resources it has to dedicate to this) and what type of information you deal with in your role. If you work with sensitive materials, such as health records, financial data, or government contracts, you can count on your employer keeping a careful eye on what you do.
These social engineering schemes know that if you dangle something people want, many people will take the bait. These schemes are often found on Peer-to-Peer sites offering a download of something like a hot new movie, or music. But the schemes are also found on social networking sites, malicious websites you find through search results, and so on.
By saving this as a binary (executable) file, we can then open it in dependency walker and see this is the file which not only contains the winexec imported function of kernel32, but also the URLDownloadToFile function of URLMON.DLL which indicates it will likely download and execute a file.
Given we already have a good idea that this functions as a keylogger, we can still use some other tools to help back this theory up. For example by looking at this binary using pestudio we can immediately see this picks up on some imports and strings that help lead us to believe it acts as a keylogger.
Based on all of this we can conclude that the overall purpose of this malware is to disable Windows File Protection, trojanize the legitimate wupdmgr.exe with a malicious executable which is designed to run the legitimate wupdmgr.exe executable. This acts as a dropper for another unknown executable which is downloaded and run from
Of interest is that we see what looks to be a broken tree whereby nothing happens after the file is written. If we examine this closely this is because of the impossible disassembly operation we encountered during analysis. What we can infer though is that this is supposed to then execute the file written to disk. Based on this we know that the program is a downloader and launcher designed to drop a file with double extensions and execute it.
The above is interesting as we can clearly see that Lab17-03.exe has launched svchost with an unusual Call Stack, and if we view the memory of svchost.exe we can see reference to the keylogger file we identified back in Lab12-02.exe. This file is also now on disk to examine. Using Process Explorer we can take a full dump svchost.exe memory which can later be used to retrieve the keylogger as it exists in memory (Right Click > Create Dump > Create Full Dump).
Based on our analysis using scdbg in question 2, we know this downloads a binary to c:\WINDOWS\system32\1.exe. This is after retrieving the system directory, and indicates that filesystem residue would be found at:
Based on our analysis in questions 1 and 2, we know this shellcode decodes itself using an alphabetic encoding scheme where each payload byte is stored in the 4-bit low register of two encoded bytes added together. After this it resolves a number of imports and uses them to download a file from a URL to disk before executing it.
Access scheduling is another very common feature. Some services let parents set a daily or weekly schedule for device usage. Others specifically restrict the amount of time your kid spends on the internet. Qustodio lets you set time restrictions on individual mobile and desktop apps. This is particularly useful for children who have a habit of playing games or using social media apps when they should be doing homework. The most helpful time-based settings apply to all your kids' devices, so they just can't switch between them to evade limits.
For people in school, at work or doing some "homework" using a computer on a daily/hourly basis, this wikiHow explains how you can look productive while not actually doing anything or just procrastinating without letting anyone know. If you have the inclination to look busy, but be doing nothing work-related, read on from step number one below. 2ff7e9595c
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