Anyone experienced with keyloggers?

[Tim]

I've known about keyloggers and that they secretly record your every keystroke, however I have no experience with them.

I am being falsely accused of doing something when I was on someone else's computer, and he claims to have a keylogger file showing proof. I have yet to be shown this file, but I am wondering:

1) Does the keylogger record the time and date of each keystroke and other info collected?

2) Can the keylogger file be manually edited to falsify the record?

[the_ancient]

I've known about keyloggers and that they secretly record your every keystroke, however I have no experience with them.

I am being falsely accused of doing something when I was on someone else's computer, and he claims to have a keylogger file showing proof. I have yet to be shown this file, but I am wondering:

1) Does the keylogger record the time and date of each keystroke and other info collected?

2) Can the keylogger file be manually edited to falsify the record?

all depends on the applications used for the logging

there are software and hardware based loggers, and each handle it differantly.

[Ron]

There are some that take a snapshot of your screen every X number of seconds, too.

[Jaded]

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS LEGAL ADVICE (besides ... you aint' paying me lol).

Keyloggers are neat devices but in most instances illegal...usually considered a form of electronic eavesdropping / interception and subject to the same rules requiring third party notification.

If you were on someone else's machine I assume you were not logged on under your own user account so you may be able to argue that the owner was the one actually hacking into your internet mail account and surfing porn lol.

If it is serious, talk to an attorney. If it is petty, tell the logger to shut up and then find a new friend. Anyone who spies on someone else has issues most of us don't need.

I spy for a living but only to verify what others are claiming within the legal arena and even then under very stict legal guidelines.

Depending on where you live and the circumstances surrounding ownership and informed consent, your accuser may be guilty of a crime ranging from a B misdemeanor to a second degree felony.

(I don't know if there have been any prosecutions of keystroke loggers in Texas but the statute says...)

18.20, Code of Criminal Procedure.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept,
or procures another person to intercept or endeavor to intercept a
wire, oral, or electronic communication;
(2) intentionally discloses or endeavors to disclose
to another person the contents of a wire, oral, or electronic
communication if the person knows or has reason to know the
information was obtained through the interception of a wire, oral,
or electronic communication in violation of this subsection;
(3) intentionally uses or endeavors to use the
contents of a wire, oral, or electronic communication if the person
knows or is reckless about whether the information was obtained
through the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic
communication in violation of this subsection;
(4) knowingly or intentionally effects a covert entry
for the purpose of intercepting wire, oral, or electronic
communications without court order or authorization;

...(f) An offense under this section is a felony of the second
degree, unless the offense is committed under Subsection (d) *manufacture advertising or sale of such devices* or
(g), *disclosing a police interception* in which event the offense is a state jail felony.

[Jaded]

Also, in many places, it is a crime to obtain and/or possess someone else's private information (specifically pin numbers, financial account info, access codes, passwords) and if you accessed any email accounts, bank accounts etc while using (with consent) your friends computer, they he/she may have compounded the issued by illegally obtaining said information.

(again, this is not intended as legal advice -- just FYI)

[Ron]

Hey Jaded,

If it was his employer's computer, his employer has the right to log anything he wants; unless the law has changed in the last couple of years while I haven't been watching.

Also, if you are on someone else's computer, I'd guess that your expectation of privacy and the right of the owner of the equipment to read anything you do would be held to be just like when at an employer's keyboard.

As for obtaining passowrds, if it was done with criminal intent, that's another issue.

But this is just guesswork from this layperson.

[Spathiphyllum]

I always thought that one is at one's employer's mercy as far as computer-related snooping goes. Their equipment. Their time. Their rules.

If it's a peer with non-supervisory or unacknowledged auditing role, maybe there's some protection... but I doubt it. Could be that it depends on the policy upon hire or during assignment.

Is there a lawyer in the house? No, no, no. Everyone sit down. I meant that was willing to do pro bono work?

As far as someone having the goods, as the_ancient said, it depends on the logger. If it takes encrypted, realtime, forensic "snapshots", then that would be tough to disprove. The only out might be to say that it wasn't you who had logged in to your account and that someone had forged your presence. Unless there's video to correspond with the unauthorized use at a particular terminal that was logged, then one might have a thin defense.

IANAL, so these comments are worth every penny paid.

[Jaded]

Hey Jaded,

If it was his employer's computer, his employer has the right to log anything he wants; unless the law has changed in the last couple of years while I haven't been watching.

Also, if you are on someone else's computer, I'd guess that your expectation of privacy and the right of the owner of the equipment to read anything you do would be held to be just like when at an employer's keyboard.

As for obtaining passowrds, if it was done with criminal intent, that's another issue.

But this is just guesswork from this layperson.

It is true employers enjoy the right to monitor computer use and most inform their employees that use is or may be monitored.

Third party issues arise when, for example, an estranged spouse enters the home (the wife knows he has access to the home) and installs the logger on his wife's computer to discover who she is communicating with.

I recall an instance of an estranged husband using a logger on the family computer, the computer was common property but the access of his wife's email account was construed as an invasion of privacy.

Using a logger to monitor use by teens is also common-place.

The details (unknown in this instance) will help determine what legal issues, if any, are involved.

IMO not informing someone who is not an employee that monitoring is ongoing and sensitive information will be exposed is, at the very least, an invasion of privacy.

*I need a spell-cheker

[EKLYPTO]

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