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does anyone know of a good (non virus) key katcher. i know there's a hardware version out there, but i'm the admin of 100 comps and i don't want to buy 100 deals and check them every day. i would like to find a software program that would save it to a file that i run a search against. thank you
Hi, have you tried searching google for "keylogger software" I put it in and it said there were approximately 765,000 hits.
Here are the first couple:
Softactivity.com
Invisible keyloggerQuote:
Choice #1 for Business! Monitor all computers in LAN remotely from a single administrator's PC.
Quote:
Invisible keylogger is a superior stealth surveillance application that is completely undetectable. During monitoring sessions Invisible Keylogger can be customized to be completely invisible and cannot be seen in the task manager, programs files menu, system tray or uninstall list.
yeah i did a google search, but like you said that there was a bunch of results. i know there are other admins on here and have prior exp. with some and give me some insight into which ones are good and which ones aren't so good. thank you
Hi,
I am sorry to sound a trifle negative but:
1. Have you the permission of your CEO, EVP Finance and EVP HR to install and use such software?.
2. What is the published, contractual policy of your organisation regarding spying on employees?.
3. Why do you want to log keystrokes. I would love to hear of a reason for this that cannot be equally satisfied by other means? with FAR LESS EFFORT :)
4. What strips do you use to get "812 PC400" in your machine?
Cheers
Nihil, as usual, brings up a good point..... There are far better and less contentious ways to determine what 100 employees are up to than to try digging through the keylogs of all of them. Let's say you have an admin secretary who is good and works hard.... she types 80 wpm, (maybe more), and manages to put up 6 hours on the computer.... You going to search through some 30,000 words for her alone? The other 99 employees typing at 20wpm for 4 hours each are going to rack up another 475,000 words..... Half that is more than you want to play with.
What is it you are trying to achieve remembering the questions that nihil asked about policies?
1. yes i do have the permission of the ceo, vp and board members. they asked me.
2. all company property is company property. the company can "spy" on your e-mail, what your typing, etc.
3. the vp told me that he want's to see how "productive" people are at work. he said that he want's to do searchs for keywords that wouldn't be there normally. ie pron
4. i'm sorry, that's supposed to be 512.
i do realize that most of this can be caught at the server level (checking the dns server logs for porn sites) but my boss said that he read something in a magazine about keylogging and now he want's it. it's been approved by the board and i've advised them that there's more efficient means of doing this. that's why i came here. i figured that someone knows of a very efficent keylogger.
Just write your own so you can customize it to your needs. Use the GetAsyncKeyState WinAPI together with Virtual Key codes to scan the keys and make an invisible program (run it as a service or something). Probably you also need a free compiler, try the DevC compiler it's free (GPL). www.bloodshed.net
Paralyse:
It really is cheaper and more efficient to prevent users from being "inefficient" than it is to try searching through voluminous logs to try to find incriminating words/phrases/sentences.
Put a proper policy in place firstly that clearly states that the network is for business use only upon penalty of dismissal because sometimes there are no technical solutions to administrative problems.
Get some form of web filter to block out the porn, webmail, gambling, hacking, dating, shopping etc. sites and use the reporting system of that to determine web abuse.
Block AIM, Kazaa etc. at the firewall and install a snort box with rules written to pick up on attempts to connect via these things.
Fire the first person who breaches policy "publicly", (let everyone know that Bert was dismissed for the policy breach), this gets everyone's attention.
People, naturally, start to think that "well, I just need to do X, Y or Z" after a while, so every three months email them the policy. Before you email it baseline the network traffic and then again a few hours after you mail it..... Be sitting down when you do the latter 'cos you'll fall over laughing at the difference in traffic.... Really.
Lastly, why does your boss employ you, (and that's a pick at him not you)? He should be coming to you first regarding IT issues and asking you what is the best way to approach a problem rather than reading some "fad" in a journal and then rushing off and implementing it.
Keyloggers are a valuable tool but to make an analagy - it's not a nuke, it's a precision targetted weapon for getting data on a very specific target. You use them to collect data on an individual that you are already pretty sure you will be dismissing and you just need to dot the "i"'s and cross the "t"'s in the paperwork so there can be no ensuing lawsuit from the, now disgruntled, ex-employee.
If you can't dissuade your boss from this course of action you are committing you life to the endless search of logs for things that may not exist - and you won't have time for anything else..... Is that what he wants?
I think cleanbash is right, you will have to write it yourself.
I am not aware of an "industrial strength" tool that will do what you want. Anything I have seen has been aimed at a very small number of users, if only because of the volumes of raw data involved, as Tiger Shark has already pointed out.
You really need two tools:
1. A productivity analysis tool. These "trickle feed" to handle the volume problem. They work at a higher level, like number of transactions handled, documents processed, and so on.
2. Abuse detection. As you have already noted, there are better ways of doing this, also at a higher level.
It seems that what you are faced with is a User coming to you with a "solution" not a problem. As their "solution" is a pile of crap, I doubt if you will find commercial software to support it, as it would hardly be likely to sell.
The way that keyloggers are intended to be used (legitimately) is in a two tier environment. Your higher level monitoring indicates a potential problem, then you use the keylogger, because you have reduced the data volume to a manageable level. Keyloggers are designed to be used by exception, not as a rule.
I suppose you realise the implications of running a keylogger on your system and you getting hacked? Particularly if you are centralising all these data for "analysis" :rolleyes: The two tier approach is safer as it is only storing summarised, non-sensitive data, keyloggers store passwords as well.
I really think you should take these issues up with your boss, if only to cover yourself?
Good Luck