Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

KeyScrambler – Anti-keylogging protection

Posted: 01 Sep 2009 03:08 AM PDT

Remember when everyone wanted to keep computer viruses off of computers because they were simply destructive? There were those that their sole purpose was to wipe data off of your hard drive. Some were bold enough to fire off a message on your screen, before continually rebooting your computer or other annoying actions.

Then along came spyware, a separate subset of computer viruses. Their purpose was to look for information on your computer or direct you somewhere on the Internet in order to get data from you. Spyware does not always want to harm your computer, although it can in the process of trying to extract information from your computer.

One type of spyware that is incredibly harmful, and typically very quiet, is the keylogger. What keyloggers do is exactly what the name implies, it logs or records your key strokes. They sit on your computer and watch what you type. While recording your key strokes, it will send them off to another computer where they are reassembled, usually by criminals, and put into a format they can use. Think about it, when you pay bills online, if you access your bank account through the Internet, maybe even an email to friends; they may all be recorded.

“Well I have the latest and greatest anti-spyware, anti-virus, and a firewall protecting my computer.” your friend says. Fair enough, but how often does he or she update their software? How often is their computer scanned with their security tools? What type of Internet sites are they visiting? How apt are they to open email from anyone? The better question here would be, “What is the harm in having one extra application that encrypts your key strokes, is light on system resources, and is designed in mind to circumvent even the toughest keyloggers?”

KeyScrambler (from QFX Software) was created to keep your keystrokes hidden from prying eyes, or rather prying programs. The fact of the matter is no anti-virus or anti-spyware program is perfect, and KeyScrambler helps fill in one of these small, but important, gaps in security.

After installing KeyScrambler, and rebooting your computer, in the lower right-hand corner of your screen, you may have noticed a new icon while Windows was loading your startup programs. A small yellow circle with a red letter K shows up near the time display, along with your normal set of icons in that area. This means that KeyScrambler is running.

It is worth mentioning that there are three different versions of KeyScrambler. The better the version, the more programs it protects. A breakout list of what each level of this software covers can be found on their website’s product comparison page (seen here). However, all of them protect Internet Explorer as well as Firefox. For the time being, we will be focusing on its use with Firefox.

The odd thing is, KeyScrambler acts somewhat like a keylogger, in that it watches your key strokes, except for different reasons. It sits, so to speak, between your keyboard and the program you are currently working with. When running Firefox, for example, everything you type becomes encrypted on the fly, and thus unreadable by a keylogger. Instead of getting specific text, like a bank account number or SSN, the criminal element receives garbage. The screen shot below is one instance of how KeyScrambler acts in Firefox.

Notice that in the Google search box, Microsoft Windows Defender is being typed. However, what is really being typed is shown in the green bar below Firefox. Instead of cohesive text, random letters, numbers, and symbols appear.

One of the nicer elements of the KeyScrambler program is, actually, the lack of options. There is not a whole shopping list of choices needed to configure the software because of its specific focus. This is beneficial to the end user because they do not have to worry about making specific changes for their programs. Should you want to access the options screen, simply click on the wrench icon in the green bar.

Here you can turn protection on or off, assign a hot key combination to activate or deactivate KeyScrambler, and check for updates. You can also adjust when the green bar appears while typing via the Display tab. Of course this task can also be accomplished by clicking on the arrow on the right hand side of the green bar. You can move it around to different corners to suit your tastes.

Depending on how security conscious, or paranoid, one is, KeyScrambler may be viewed as a necessity. Its light use of system memory and processing power, coupled with a near “fire and forget” type setup and operation, makes this tool a nice addition to any Windows computer security tool set.

Copyright © 2007
Online Tech Tips.
Aseem Kishore (digitalfingerprint: a59a56dce36427d83e23b501579944fcakmk1980 (74.125.44.136) )

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KeyScrambler – Anti-keylogging protection