Protect Your Information From Keyloggers

Let's face it. Everyone is at risk of having his or her information compromised by a malicious person. He doesn't even have to be a hacker since keyloggers are so easy to implement and use. Everything you type into your computer, such as passwords and credit card information, may be at risk. Subsequently, you must follow many precautions, such as the ten steps Parxy.com has compiled for your safety.

1. Never type any sensitive data on a public computer. As a rule of thumb, you should never enter your credit card information in a public computer. If you must access your e-mail, then you should change your password right afterward. For the sake of building this article, I installed a keylogger in my own laptop for "entertainment purposes" everyone who asked to use my laptop, with no exceptions, typed their passwords in it. Of course I didn't even look at them, but malicious people will. Installing a keylogger is very easy.

2. Keep your anti-virus software up to date. It's imperative that you constantly update your anti-virus software. My best advice is that you choose one anti-virus program and stick to it. If you must pay $50 per year to get updates, you should. It will be MUCH better in the long run. Believe a person who has had his whole e-mail account deleted: Me!

3. If you have very sensitive information, consider a third party anti-keylogger software. There are many flooding the internet and most of them are very good at stopping keyloggers. It is important to note that your anti-virus (such as Norton) will stop 90% of keyloggers, but if you constantly type sensitive information into your computer such as your credit card number, then you should consider a third party anti-keylogger. You will find many with a quick Google Search.

4. For credit card transactions, use PayPal. PayPal is not only good against keyloggers, but also against most hackers in general. PayPal's system is very interesting. You enter your credit card information once, and you can send money to anyone with a PayPal account without the need of ever typing your credit card number again. Even if someone gains access to your PayPal account, you can dispute any fraudalent money that was sent without your consent. It's very safe to do transactions with PayPal and you should be 100% sure that when you type your credit card number for the first time, there isn't a keylogger running in the background.

5. To compliment #4, scan your computer for viruses as frequently as possible. This will not only make your computer perform better, but will also delete most keyloggers. For this step to be effective, you should do #2 as well. Just to be safe, if you are going to type anything very sensitive into your computer, such as a credit card number, scan your computer beforehand. You can never be safe enough.

6. Never let anyone gain physical access to your computer. If anyone can enter your computer, then he or she may install a keylogger program into it. This is very dangerous, for he or she may also disable your anti-virus software against that specific keylogger.

7. For VERY important information, such as guvermental data, try to find alternative ways to access your information. For example, some stores sell special mice where you can touch the bottom with your thumb and it will recognize it, granting you access without the need of typing your password. This is useful for reading information only, because if you have to type it as well, the keylogger may recognize it. Use an alternative computer (such as a laptop with no internet access) if that's the case. You will see why in step #10.

8. Always scan any "burned" CDs, downloaded software, e-mails, beforehand. If you open them before scanning, you may catch a virus. Some anti-virus programs scan everything by default, but it's always better to "instruct them" to scan a given file. Also remember to set in your anti-virus software to scan all incoming e-mail by default. This is very important.

9. If you use Windows, update it as frequently as possible. The Service Pack 2, for example, added much security to Windows against Hackers in general. If you haven't updated, do so now. Also if you are using anything older than Windows XP, what are you waiting for? Update! This is important.

10. The last step is to always physically check your keyboard. There are many external keyloggers that can be installed directly onto the keyboard cable, or even inside the keyboard itself! So if you have something important that anyone may want to compromise, check your keyboard frequently. If you notice anything strange, such as an external device you'd never seen before, have more security in your office/home.