Long considered to be malware and a threat to privacy and security, keylogging software has been found on Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome. However, these keyloggers were not placed there by hackers—the companies put them there on purpose.

Google and Microsoft added keyloggers to their browsers in an attempt to improve searches for their users. Keylogging allows the browser to determine common or most likely searches based on the user’s past usage. They also store user log-ins and passwords for the user’s convenience, track activity to help determine the cause of errors, and employers use keyloggers to track employee productivity. While this is all very useful for the companies doing the tracking, it makes anti-malware protection more complicated, because the malware applications like Kaspersky AntiVirus cannot simply delete all keyloggers as they have up until this point.

Cyber criminals use keylogging to capture and record each keystroke you make to steal personal information like user IDs, passwords and anything else they can use to steal your identity. However, some companies are now using keylogging for more legitimate purposes.

In order to determine the best course of action regarding keyloggers, Kaspersky Labs, an industry leader in anti-malware protection, is seeking legal counsel. While they do not want to accuse legitimate companies of wrongdoing, they still want to provide the best and most comprehensive anti-malware protection on the market. If it were up to Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of the company, users would not stand for these privacy-invading programs to be present on their browsers and request the companies to remove them. “That would save us a lot of work, and we already have plenty to do,” he told Computer Weekly. Google is already reacting to the public’s aversion to keylogging by promising to keep the information anonymous, but Microsoft has made no such announcements as of yet.

What it all comes down to is this: is the convenience provided by keylogging worth compromising the security of your computer?

Author: Christopher

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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A laptop reported missing on July 26th containing personally identifiable information on some 33,000 airport travelers has been found.  The unencrypted laptop was found more than a week later in the Transportation Security Administration office from which it had disappeared.  The questions on everybody’s mind are, was the laptop ever really missing or was it simply mis-placed, and should we assume that the data on it has been compromised.  The data comprises information on applicants to the TSA’s fast-pass security pre-screening program, and includes names, addresses, birth dates, driver’s license, and passport or green card numbers.

A week is more than enough time for someone to copy the relevant data, then wait for an opportune time to return the laptop.  Maybe the thieves hope that by returning the laptop, the company would attempt to conceal the fact that the laptop was missing, thereby avoiding the embarrassing admission that it was left unencrypted and in an apparently insecure location.  This would mean that the potential victims would never know that their personal data was compromised, thus there would be no impetus to scrutinize their accounts and monitor their credit.

Fortunately, the company has disclosed the fact that the laptop was missing, and is notifying the applicants whose data may have been compromised.  This will help mitigate the damage if the data was indeed stolen.  This incident is one more in a chain of events over the last few years where unencrypted data on laptops and PDAs has potentially fallen into the hands of identity thieves when the devices were lost or stolen.

Author: Christopher

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In its second month of compiling data, the new Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) technology revealed some significant changes amongst the most widespread malicious programs.

The first table is based on statistics provided by our 2009 antivirus products. This table shows the malicious programs detected on users’ computers.

 1              Trojan.Win32.DNSChanger.ech
 2    New    Trojan.Win32.Pakes.kab
 3    New    Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Agent.xqz
 4    New    Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Agent.yaw
 5    New    Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Agent.xws
 6    New    Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Small.zie
 7    New    Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Agent.xna
 8    New    Trojan-Downloader.JS.Agent.chk
 9    New    Trojan.Win32.Agent.tfc
10    +6      not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.BHO.ca
11    New    not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.Agent.cp
12    -3      Trojan.Win32.Agent.abt
13    New    Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Agent.tbd
14    New    not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.BHO.sc
15    New    not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.BHO.vp
16    New    Trojan-GameThief.Win32.OnLineGames.sjbb
17    New    Trojan-Clicker.Win32.Agent.bkd
18    +1      Trojan.Win32.Chifrax.a
19    New    Trojan.RAR.Qfavorites.a
20    New    Trojan-GameThief.Win32.OnLineGames.sgpq

A total of 28940 different malicious and potentially unwanted programs were detected on users’ computers in August. That is an increase of more than 8000 on July’s figures and points to a significant increase in the number of in-the-wild threats.

Source: Kaspersky Lab

Author: Christopher

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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