Keystroke loggers

A keystroke logger, or key logger, is a small device that monitors each keystroke by a user on a keyboard. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) refers to the device as a “Magic Lantern.” The key logger program records each of the user’s keystrokes and uploads the information over the Internet periodically to the person who installed the program. A key logger program can be installed by someone who wants to monitor activity on a particular computer, such as by parents who want to monitor their children’s activities on the Internet. It can also be downloaded unwittingly as virus spyware through a remote Trojan horse.
Privacy advocates are primarily concerned about the ease of installation of the device and its capability to circumvent encryption by reading the keystroke logs. The device may be installed by a person opening an electronic mail attachment or by landing in the recipient user’s e-mail box. The second major concern relates to its ability to capture content, free of judicial oversight, by recording the secret keys that a person uses to encrypt messages or computer files. The equipment may be installed under the authority of a traditional search warrant as opposed to a wiretapping order because the key logger device does not capture or intercept the communication as it is being transmitted over a telephone or cable line while the modem is in operation.
Since the program is practically impossible to detect, there is no way to protect information from being disclosed without authorization and potentially leaked or used in an illicit manner. On the positive side, key loggers are user specific, as opposed to black box programs, which monitor regional communication activities. Furthermore, key loggers reveal a target’s key and key-related information so that access to indecipherable documents can be secured. Timely attainment of information of this sort is crucial to law enforcement in investigating and preventing serious terrorist plots or criminal acts.