What Are Keyloggers And Its Effect On Our Devices?

The internet is an endless source of information and data. But, in some cases, you come across some fishy occurrences like hacking, force entry, and other cyber attacks, but among these, one of them is known to record your logged data and use it for malicious purposes. In this tutorial on ‘what are keyloggers’, you will understand how these keyloggers attack, access, and damage your system.

Earn Over $100K Average Annual Salary!

Caltech Cybersecurity BootcampExplore Program

What Are Keyloggers?

Keylogger is a hacking program or tool designed to record keystrokes typed during data input and record them in a log file. The same keylogger program is also designed to secretly send these log files to the hacker, where he/she can use the recorded data for illegal activities or sell your private data on illegal sites.

The program also monitors your movement on the web to record data related to login bank details through which the hacker can easily access our private and social accounts.

Next, in the tutorial on ‘what are keyloggers?’, you will see how to identify keylogger activity in the system.

Identifying Keylogger Activity

Identifying the activity of a hacking program is often difficult as they are designed to hide from antivirus scans but to check whether it infected your system with the keylogger program, you need to refer to some of the below-mentioned points:

• There are cases of suspicious internet activity in the system. This occurs because of the sending of logged data by the keylogger program to the hacker.
• Frequent system crashes, and lagging of system applications may also indicate keylogger infection.
• Additionally, you may also notice slow reaction speed from the keyboard, which indicates the keylogger infection in the system.

Next, in the tutorial ‘what are keyloggers’, you will know about the ways the keylogger program may enter the system.

How Does Keylogger Infect the System?

Keylogger program may enter your system through various channels, either online or offline means, some of which are:

• The malware program may get installed when accessing email from an unknown source or an attachment in the email.
• Keylogger may also enter the device when surfing the Internet or clicking random pop-ups.
• The system may also get infected with the keylogger program when installing applications from uncertified sources.
• Using unidentified physical storage devices like pen drives and then accessing its content may lead to installing the keylogger program.

Next, in this tutorial, you will understand how to remove the keylogger program from your devices.

Earn Over $100K Average Annual Salary!

Caltech Cybersecurity BootcampExplore Program

Removing Keylogger Program

Since you identified the keylogger program in the device, the next step is to remove the program and prevent it from further harming our system and data. To remove the program, you can refer to the following points:

• Removing any suspicious add-on from the internet which might be the source of infection.
• Deleting unknown data files or folders from the system.
• Uninstallation of uncertified software and applications from the system.
• Using the latest antivirus applications to early detect and remove the keylogger program.

Next, in the tutorial on ‘what are keyloggers’, you will look into preventing keylogger programs from entering your system.

Preventing Keylogger Infection

Like other malware programs, the keylogger program can be prevented from entering if correct precautions are taken. This might protect your data from getting logged by the keylogger program for malicious purposes.

To prevent the system from getting installed/infected with the keylogger program, you can refer to some of the below-mentioned points as reference:

• Regular antivirus scans to check any unusual activity from software or an application and prevent it from affecting our system.
• Visiting trusted and certified websites on the internet to prevent the installation of keylogger programs in the system.
• Avoid clicking on any random pop-ups from sites.
• Use the Virtual Keyboard (On-Screen Keyboard) when typing sensitive data such as login details, passwords, or bank details.
• Use certified software and applications from a trusted source to avoid getting infected with the keylogger program.

Build your network security skill-set and beat hackers at their own game with the Certified Ethical Hacking Course. Check out the course preview now!

Conclusion

In this tutorial on ‘what are keyloggers’, you understood the keylogger program in general, moving on with knowing how to identify the keylogger program and learning ways to remove and prevent the entering of the keylogger program in your device. 

In order to gain more knowledge about the topic and other topics related to the keylogger issue, you can refer to Simplilearn’s Cyber Security Expert course, which would provide you with professional information about the topic along with other essential parts related to it.

Do you have any questions related to this article on ‘what are keyloggers?’ If yes, feel free to mention them in the comments section at the bottom of this page. Our team will help you solve your queries ASAP.