The Invasion of the Keyloggers

What’s a keylogger?  Keyloggers are programs (or they can be hardwired into your keyboard) that sit on your computer, logging your keystrokes, and then send that information to someone else, often by email. There are two kinds of keyloggers – legitimate and illegitimate. The illegitimate kind is used by hackers and criminals online. They can be stopped if you ignore spam, keep your Windows machine updated, and use and antivirus program. But you may be surprised about the legitimate kind. If your employer owns the computer you use they can legitimately installed a keylogger. After all, the courts say, your employer has a right to know what you are doing with their equipment. So how can you find out if someone is spying on you that way or if the public machine you are using has been rigged? You need a dedicated program to check for keyloggers. To find out more about these programs check out this Kim Komando column.

Snooping or Security?

As I follow the press on digital safety one theme that has been coming up over and over again lately is the coming risk of cyberwarfare between the United States and hackers, terrorists and even other countries. The other theme is that as we implement cybersecurity the line between surveillance and snooping is getting razor thin. Thin enough, in fact, that Einstein 3, the latest iteration of the Federal government's intrusion detection program, has aroused privacy concerns because it can examine the content of email. It is something that we all need to know more about as security experts whether it is the government or private enterprise that should be doing the snooping and exactly what kind of snooping is allowed.

Microsoft VP Calls for Internet Tax

Ok, so here it is. Scott Charney, Microsoft's vice president for trustworthy computing, during a speech at a security convention in San Francisco recently called for levying an Internet tax on Americans to pay for cybersecurity. His argument is that PC users who don't run antivirus apps or back up their computers or patch their systems regularly are like cigarette smokers who poison other people with second-hand smoke and need to pony up to cover the cost of cybersecurity.

Whoa Nellie! Isn’t it Microsoft who puts out weekly security updates to patch the holes discovered with great regularity in its operating system and apps? Yet Microsoft wants its customers to pay up for that? Seems like the pot calling the kettle black. And what about the folks who do run antivirus apps and patch their systems regularly …or dare I say it, use a Mac? Will they be swept into paying for the mistakes of others even more than they do now? I think Microsoft needs to look to its own before suggesting that the rest of us need to pay to fix software that wasn’t properly programmed to begin with.