Keyloggers, Newest Threat in Identity Theft

Keyloggers are used by programmers to develop software. In the wrong hands, they are used by identity thieves to steal information. It is estimated that in February and March there were about one hundred malicious sites hosting keyloggers. These sites often look like popular e-commerce sites.

If you do a search for "keyloggers" on the internet, you will find dozens of ads selling them. Here is an amusing one:

http://www.marsiansoft.com/pcpolice/index.html?refer=Overture.

Entitled "PC Police", it claims to be totally covert and give you the ability to spy on cheating spouses, misguided children etc. Although, the ads try to make them sound legitimate, in the hands of criminals they obviously are being used for a lot more. We live in a scary world.

To protect yourself, it is recommended to keep your virus and malware software updated and be wary of unsolicited e-mails with attachments. You should also be careful about not downloading from suspicious websites. Here is a story with more information.

http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/42896.html

Unfortunately, a lot of internet crime goes unreported. Not reporting it makes it more lucative for the criminals and harder for law enforcement to resolve. If you suspect crime on the internet, here is a website where you can file a complaint online.

http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp