Your critical information may be
at risk online
MUSCAT — Do you know that every action you perform on your PC (personal
computer), be it chatting with friends, writing business or personal e-mails,
accessing your bank account on the Internet or storing passwords – could be
tracked by a third person? Believe it or not, this is reality, courtesy modern
technology, says Tariq bin Hilal Al Barwani, a well-known Omani IT expert.
“You are not only robbed off your privacy, but all your information and data
are at risk. All this is done through a program known as keylogger, which
helps one keep tabs on a user’s keystrokes by logging on each one of them,
thereby providing access to the victim’s information. These programs are
widely available on the Net for download,” Tariq, who is always on the prowl
to find better ways to enhance and upgrade his Net skills, told the Times of
Oman yesterday.
Moreover, advanced versions of logging programs also monitors the Net activity
by logging the addresses of visited homepages. It monitors time and title of
the active application; even text in edit boxes and message boxes are
captured.
It is an invisible easy-to-use surveillance tool that records every keystroke
to an encrypted log file. The log file can be sent secretly with e-mail to a
specified receiver.
“Keylogging programs are not very new. Earlier, users were required to install
the program physically on the targeted PC. Also, logged information would only
be present on the victim’s PC, which means the person who installed the
software needed to have access to the victim’s PC in order to collect the log.
It wasn’t that easy. Today, there are sophisticated ways where the
installation can be made virtually — over the Net — and the same applies when
collecting the logs. No physical interaction with the target PC is required,”
How does it work? Tariq Hilal Al Barwani, a local IT expert, explains:
“Keylogging programs are embedded within Spyware applications. Spyware is
defined in webopedia.com as any software that covertly gathers user
information through the user’s Internet connection without his or her
knowledge, usually for advertising purposes. Spyware applications are
typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs that
can be downloaded from the Internet.”
“I avoid entertaining free software for I believe there is no such thing as
free lunch,” Al Barwani noted. Once the keylogger is activated, it will
monitor and log all the keystrokes and then accordingly transmit the
information back to the author.
A variety of software is available online to remove Spyware and Keylogging
programs. Check them out at www.downloads.com or www.hotfiles.com. Most of the
software will find and remove the Spyware and Keyloggers from your system.
Microsoft also has a nifty program called Microsoft AntiSpyware that can be
downloaded from www.microsoft.com. “I tried myself and found them good for the
task. My advice, however, is to change your passwords and critical information
as soon as you get rid of the keylogging and spyware programs because you
never know who’s using your identity now,” says Al Barwani.
Keyloggers and spyware are a serious threat to your computer’s security and
personal privacy. A large number of users connected on the Internet may be
monitored and spied on today. Make sure you’re not one of them. Take the
necessary precautions — or actions if already targeted, he warned. Defending
against them is essential for anyone accessing the Internet. The number of
security problems continues to escalate. Everyone should take serious note
about this and have to defend their computers.”
* If the average PC user takes the necessary security precautions, there
should be so little to worry about. The Internet is a useful medium and should
be used to its fullest,” Al Barwani said.
What to do
l Install an ant-ivirus and anti-spyware to protect you from viruses, spyware,
etc — make sure they’re updated with the latest definition
l Install a firewall to monitor what’s coming in or going out of the Internet
l Regularly scan your PC for viruses — a weekly habit would be a good start
l Avoid downloading free stuff, and most importantly avoid porn, hacking, and
mischief sites that are prone to have spywares.
l Update your operating system whenever you get the Windows Update Alert.
l Take a regular backup of you’re data — you never know when security measures
in place could be defeated by sophisticated technologies.
According to Al Barwani, users surfing the web without security measures in
place, such as firewall or virus protection, are easy target for spyware,
virus, trojans and the like.” Most of the recent new viruses, trojans, spyware
and keyloggers that are loaded onto system, will send critical
information/messages of your systems status and personal information to a
number of servers around the world-keeping your information exposed on the
world wide web (WWW).
“Also, your PC and net surfing becomes very slow, and a number of windows will
be opened (pop-up) automatically, which becomes distracting.
l All outgoing e-mails (typed from the PC) are logged.
l Websites addresses are surfed.
l Chatting will be monitored
l Usernames and passwords typed while visiting sites, Internet banking and
e-mails are tracked.