First Step Data Capture - Key Stroke Loggers

Keystroke logging, depending on how it is implemented, can easily bypass the best host and network security, collecting valuable key information for use in later attacks or information gathering exercises. Keystroke logging through the data it captures can also remove the requirement to brute force attack encrypted information, as pass phrases are typed and then recorded by the logger in the clear. Keystroke logging has been around since the days of the first mini-computer systems and it is still effective today as a first step data capture utility. Due to its very nature as a first step data capture system, key logging is still one of the best methods for capturing userids, passwords and pass phrases