A Keylogger is a very powerful software application that records all keystrokes made by a person typing. The software can be downloaded onto your computer and it will record everything you type. There are also ways that people can put keyloggers on your computer on then use them to see what you type online. Lots of people use this technique to retrieve passwords and such items from people’s computers without them ever knowing. Even on secure websites it will still track what you’re typing and if it is one of the keyloggers downloaded by an intruder the information will be sent to his computer. This will allow anyone to gain control of your information like your banking, website details, and password encrypted files.

Usually you will need to have downloaded a program with the spyware already on it. This is why you must be careful when downloading things off unknown websites, because you never know what could have spyware attached with it. You can detect keyloggers most times and remove them from your computer but you will need to change your passwords to everything you accessed before the intruder does. You can also cancel any credit cards or such things that you may of used while being keylogged, its important you do this or else you may be charged for items you never purchased. With the antivirus programs out there now it’s hard to download a keylogger on your computer but it could still happen so you need to be careful when dealing with unknown programs.

Keyloggers use to be used a lot more widely then they are now because they could bypass security a lot easier. It takes a very sophisticated keylogger to bypass the security features on most of the new antivirus programs which doesn’t make it worth it for intruders to program these applications. It takes a lot of time and most aren’t useful now as they are detected right away.  

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