Real-Time Keyloggers

The NY Times has a story and a blog backgrounder focusing on a weapon now being wielded by bad guys (most likely in Eastern Europe, according to the Times): Trojan horse keyloggers that report back in real-time. The capability came to light in a court filing (PDF) by Project Honey Pot against "John Doe" thieves. The case was filed in order to compel the banks — which are almost as secretive as the cyber-crooks — to reveal information such as IP addresses that could lead back to the miscreants. Or at least allow victims to be notified. Real-time keyloggers were first discovered in the wild last year, but the court filing and the Times article should bring new attention to the threat. The technique menaces the 2-factor authentication that some banks have instituted: "By going real time, hackers now can get around some of the roadblocks that companies have put in their way. Most significantly, they are now undeterred by systems that create temporary passwords, such as RSA's SecurID system, which involves a small gadget that displays a six-digit number that changes every minute based on a complex formula. If [your] computer is infected, the Trojan zaps your temporary password back to the waiting hacker who immediately uses it to log onto your account. Sometimes, the hacker logs on from his own computer, probably using tricks to hide its location. Other times, the Trojan allows the hacker to control your computer, opening a browser session that you can't see."

Real Time?

[Anonymous Coward]

My Windoze apps at work don't even respond in real time. Maybe the trojan provides a free performance boost?

I just got nailed by a logger

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm careful but I just noticed a lag in my e-mail typing so I'm assuming I got nailed by a logger. I switched off that machine and don't use it for the internet but I am having trouble getting rid of it. I've been having a lot of trouble getting rid of things since I switched to Vista. What's the best software these days? I had all my security up and I hadn't been downloading even commercial software so I haven't a clue where it came from. I do a lot of on-line banking so I'm not about to use that machine again but I'd love to get rid of it since I do have a lot of web sites saved off on that one. All I can think was I got it from clicking on a web link to a story. I do surf a lot of news.

Re:Biometrics

[John Hasler]

Anything to avoid a secure OS eh?

Re:Thwarted by properly designed online banking

[bruno.fatia]

My bank has so much more security that even when I want to I can't transfer anything!

Re:Real Time?

[Inner_Child]

I understand, it's embarrassing to admit to watching professional wrestling...

Mod Parent Up

[flyneye]

I think that the parent needs heard.
There are certain facts I believe everyone can agree on.
1. These are thieves that both steal money and Constitutional rights (or if not a u.s. citizen a human right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness which we may agree are all fueled by money won by our sweat,talent and wits)
2. Law enforcement is no where near to bringing any of these to justice nor will they be in the foreseeable future.
3. Any human may defend themselves especially in the event where there is a lack of , or insufficient police protection .
4. To call on others ,likeminded and in danger of the same abuse to erradicate the predator is natural human and perfectly acceptable.
5. Since incarceration hasn't deterred black hattery since before Mitnik , it has been seen that something stronger than incarceration is in fact warranted.
6. Black hatters like others of their ilk lack the survival instinct necessary to form moral barriers that protect them from their own behavior and to allow this to continually muddy the gene pool is not in the interests of humanity.

          So an international treaty providing sanctions of first castration/sterilization for underage offenses and wretched horrific public execution complete with sadistic experementation should actually be manditory.
I have thought long and hard about this and considered that there are absolutely no other ways more peaceable or humanitarian to have an acceptable outcome.

Ribbed

[bobbuck]

I couldn't find any ribbed for "his" pleasure so I had to turn them inside out and tell her I bought the plain ones.