ABC ~ All 'Bout Computers
The Online Web-azine for Computer Enthusiasts
-- brought to you by

contents page for this issue

Mike's Safety Belt
~~Mike Baynes, MikesWhatsNews

Key Loggers ~ Privacy in Email?

One of the more interesting problems occurring through the use of email is the invasion of privacy.

Many users of email do not realize that there are programs called 'Key Loggers' which can trace every key stroke.

One program advertises:

• Keyboard Logging Software.
• Employers can monitor employee's use of the computer.
• Reveals résumés, letters, email, etc.
• Monitor spouse's online activities in cyber chat rooms.
• Monitor your children's internet activities.
• Display every web site visited.
• Very easy to install in seconds. Cannot be detected.

Another says:

There is almost no way for the program to be discovered once the program file and the log file are renamed by the install utility. An exhaustive hard drive search won't turn up anything. And the running process won't show up anywhere.

Many companies employ these programs legitimately, as it is their computer and their time that is being used.  However it can have repercussions if you were to say something you did not wish your employer to know.

You may delete the text you have typed but Key Loggers can be set to activate on certain key words, which would then cause a report to be generated to advise management of the event.

Often deleting an offensive document or email does not help as the automated backup may have already backed up the data.

The US government also employs powerful software to monitor email activity.

The FBI has utilized DCS1000, once known as CARNIVORE:
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/carnivore/carnivore.htm
a system consists of hardware connected to an Internet service provider's equipment that allows the FBI to intercept all e-mail traffic sent or received by a specific individual without their knowledge.

Don't be fooled. DCS1000 is still a 'Carnivore' at heart
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-528089.html?legacy=zdnn

The NSA system ECHELON:
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~pspoole/echelon.html
is much more powerful, and consists of a global network of satellites and monitoring stations that screen all telephonic, e-mail, and facsimile transmissions.
http://www.echelonwatch.org/
"Echelon is perhaps the most powerful intelligence gathering organization in the world. Several credible reports suggest that this global electronic communications surveillance system presents an extreme threat to the privacy of people all over the world. According to these reports, ECHELON attempts to capture staggering volumes of satellite, microwave, cellular and fiber-optic traffic, including communications to and from North America.  This vast quantity of voice and data communications are then processed through sophisticated filtering technologies."

TEMPEST
http://www.nsa.gov/isso/bao/tep.htm
Another method of government information gathering that could possibly pose a privacy risk is monitoring of TEMPEST emanations. These electronic signals are created by a computer monitor, and can be intercepted and used to re-create the screen image." 
http://www.eskimo.com/~joelm/tempest.html

The Moral of this Story

Remember the internet is a lot like a highway:  lots of traffic coming and going.  Up in the sky someone is watching the traffic and making notes.  It could be big brother, or it could be a Trojan program on your computer logging your keystrokes. 
Anything you type on your computer could someday be revealed.
Don't type anything that you do not wish to share.

Consider an encryption program:
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/info5b.htm

Mike Baynes is the editor of MikesWhatsNews .  To subscribe, send a blank email to mikeswhatsnews-request@freelists.org?Subject=subscribe

See Mike's Anti-Virus pages ~ http://virusinfo.hackfix.org.  To subscribe, send a blank email to: virusinfo-request@freelists.org?Subject=subscribe