About Monitoring/Surveillance Software To Spy

by: Ramiro Banda

Why should you use monitoring or survillance software?

Think for a moment about how much confidential data you store on your computer?, your information isn't safe. A small device plugged in line with your keyboard or a computer software running in your system could let to others gain access to your privacy and confidential data. Perhaps these hardware devices or computer software shouldn't have been created, but these are here available to everybody. There is a posibility that you are going watched now. You need to know what is going on your computer.

Uses of survillance software

If you are a parent and your children use the Internet you should use a survillance software to make sure that no inapropiate web content will be opened.

Use a monitoring software to retrieve lost information, if your operative system crash, a power loss happens, your word processor doesn't respond, etc.

If you are a system administrator and you would you like to restric opened applications and internet sites in a few of machines.

Like a business administrator with many employees and you would want to ensure that your employees are not misusing the computer at work.

If you are a spouse who suspects your partner might be having an affair,your health coud be at stake.

Perhaps you want to know if somedoby is lying, etc. this list could be interminable.

A Keylogger (KeyLogger, Key Logger, or Keystroke Logger) is a small device installed installed between your keyboard and your computer or also can be a computer program that runs in the background, recording all the keystrokes. Once keystrokes are logged, they are hidden in the machine for later retrieval, or shipped raw to the interested person.

Tipes of keyloggers:

- Hardware based: This is independent of the computer operating system, easy installation but also easy to detect (physically), expensive, for example a hardware keylogger with 512KB of memory will save keystrokes typed during four days approximately. A hardware keyloggers like this is about $150. It could be found at any moment and disconnected and will only provide you with keystrokes.

- Software based: A very basic software Keylogger normally consists of two files at least:

- An executable file which load a DLL, sets the hook and saves keystrokes

- A Dynamic Link Library or DLL.

Also in more complex keyloggers or monitoring softwares is included one kernel driver to hook the operative system and stay hidden from others softwares like, antispyware, antivirus and specially from any list process.

Of course, a single keylogger can't do more that save keystrokes, but we know that there are more events in ours computers that could be monitored: your computer screen, mouse activity and cursor, instant messajes, etc.

The survillance software or spy software are products that are developed in different countries of the world by hundreds of companies and by individual programmers. These software products embrace, as a rule, absolutely different products, some of them are well known than others.If a survillance software becomes popular then more antikeyloggers will be able to detect and disable it.

Periodically one good surveillance software should create a new version, with diferents signatures for files, for staying undetected for antispyware.

If you think that you are going being spied install another monitoring software in the same computer in your office, but never use keyloggers for illegal purposes.