Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Digital Marketing and Measurement Model



Digital Marketing and Measurement Model

There is one difference between winners and losers when it comes to web analytics. Winners, well before they think data or tool, have a well structured Digital Marketing & Measurement Model. Losers don't.
This article guides you in understanding the value of the Digital Marketing & Measurement Model (notice the repeated emphasis on Marketing, not just Measurement), and how to create one for yourself. At the end you'll also find some additional examples to inspire you.
Let's go…
The root cause of failure in most digital marketing campaigns is not the lack of creativity in the banner ad or TV spot or the sexiness of the website. It is not even (often) the people involved. It is quite simply the lack of structured thinking about what the real purpose of the campaign is and a lack of an objective set of measures with which to identify success or failure.
I've developed the Digital Marketing & Measurement Model as a simple, structured, five step process to infuse this much needed thinking. Here is what each step in the process helps accomplish:
    Step one is to force us to identify the business objectives upfront and set the broadest parameters for the work we are doing. Sr. Executives play a key role in this step.  Step two is to identify crisp goals for each business objective. Executives lead the discussion, you’ll play a contributing role.
    Step three is to write down the key performance indicators. You’ll lead the work in this step, in partnership with a “data person” if you have one.
    Step four is to set the parameters for success upfront by identifying targets for each KPI. Organization leaders play a key role here, with input from Marketing and Finance.
    Step five, finally, is to identify the segments of people / behavior / outcomes that we’ll analyze to understand why we succeed or failed.
Simple, right? It is harder than you might think, “soft” work always is. Before we go into each step in detail I want to share something extremely critical. The scope/breadth the model has to cover.
A complete, and competent, Digital Marketing & Measurement Model will focus on three key areas of your marketing, and in each answer the cluster of questions provided:
    1. Acquisition.
      How are you anticipating acquiring traffic for your website / YT video / whatever else you are creating? Did you cover all three components of successful acquisition: Earned, Owned, Paid media? How would you prioritize each? Where are you spending most of your efforts?
    2. Behavior.
      What is the behavior you are expecting when people arrive? What pages should they see? What videos should they watch? Should they visit repeatedly? Are there certain actions they should take? What is unique about your effort that ties to an optimal experience for a customer?
    3. Outcomes.
      What outcomes signify value delivered to the business bottom-line? A download? A phone call to your call center? A qualified online lead? Signing up for email promotions? People buying your product / services ? A 95% task completion rate? A 10 point lift in brand perception? Simply put: Why are we undertaking this digital initiative?
    My sincerest hope is that these questions will seed your discussions as you go through the five steps below. If your Digital Marketing & Measurement Model does not cover all three areas of your digital effort, then it is not complete. Please consider revisiting it. Don’t accept a mediocre model.
    With that macro thought out of the way, let’s get going and look at a real example of the five step process to solidify this concept.
    The business we are doing this for is a real estate company. I’ve picked a tough one because the main outcome is offline success. If they can create a good model then your job is much much easier!
    Step 1: Identify the Business Objectives.
    Ask this question: Why does your website/campaign exist? (Think of acquisition, behavior and outcomes.)
    This is a difficult question to answer because it requires more thinking that you might anticipate. If you do it right at the end of step one you’ll have something that looks like this:
    digital marketing measurement model step one
    Identifying the business objectives mandates a discussion, multiple discussions, with the senior-most leaders in your company and working with them / sweet-talking their egos and hearts with gentle encouragement, to identify why the site / campaign / digital marketing invitiative exists.
    Based on those discussions, in our case, we’ve identified three objectives: Create awareness, generate leads for the builders and highlight community events.
    Here’s a great test. Your objectives should be DUMB:
      Doable.
      Understandable.
      Manageable.
      Beneficial.
    If they are too out there, you'll never get anywhere. If they are too vague, nothing will get done. If they are too lame, they'll inspire no one. Go for real world, clear, executable and those that deliver value to the company (short term and long).
    Are your objectives dumb?
    Pro Tip: One way to ensure success is to forget that you are creating a set of videos or that you are building a site to host downloads of pdfs or that you are trying to mimic a campaign from Europe. Really, really, really think hard about why you are doing what you are doing. Get the answer from your executive/client.
    Step 2: Identify Goals for each Objective.
    Drilling down to identify website/campaign Goals requires critical thinking from both the Management, Marketers, and the Analysts – with Management in the leadership role.
    My definition: Goals are specific strategies you'll leverage to accomplish the business objectives.
    After going through some of the acquisition, behavior questions with stakeholders, here’s our model:
    digital marketing measurement model step two
    Clean. Has a clear direct line between Goal and each objective. Provides immense clarity.
    To deliver on "Create Awareness," in this case, the site needs to support all the offline efforts along with having a relevant online traffic acquisition strategy.
    "Generating Leads" comprises the twin goals of providing all kinds of information that will help potential home buyers to make their decision and to collect e-newsletter registrations as well as e-requests for an onsite tour of the model home by the builder.
    Finally, "Highlight Events" is for prospective home buyers (visitors to our site). By making them happy with delightful events, at the construction site hopefully in model homes for sale, they can be converted into Net Promoters (to others) and Buyers (themselves).
    These goals provide clarity, but they also contain large chunks of specific marching orders for what the Marketers and Analysts need to get done.
    Pro Tip: This is super key: Macro + Micro Conversions! If the goals identified don’t cover all the jobs the site/campaign is doing then you might need to revisit your work.
    Step 3: Identify the Key Performance Indicators.
    Finally we get to deal with data!! I know you’ve been dying to get here. You’ll be the ideas leader here.
    My definition: A key performance indicator (KPI) is a metric that helps you understand how you are doing against your objectives.
    For each goal, sweat, and find the most hyper relevant KPI. This is what it will look like:
    digital marketing measurement model step three
    So amazing right?
    I am sure your head is buzzing with all the possibilities for custom reports and things to report on, and how much clearer it is what you are supposed to do! Awesome, but hold your horses. We have two more steps to complete. Stay with me.
    Pro Tip: Try to look for smart KPIs? Here’s specific guidance to help you…
    best marketing web metrics
    Pick super awesome key performance indicators that truly reveal success or failure.
    Step 4: Identify the Targets.
    It is heartbreaking how few people complete this step. It is absolutely critical, in so many ways.
    My definition: Targets are numerical values you’ve pre-determined as indicators of success or failure.
    Why do you need targets? Consider this: You had an amazing campaign on YouTube. You got 1.2 million views. Is that great or awful? How do you decide? That is why you need targets!
    Ok, so you also need them to plan your site / campaign / marketing initiative better. If you were responsible for getting 5 million visits in a month would you execute your campaign differently than if that number was 500k? Or if you were supposed to reach 1,000 CMO’s would you remember not to use Social Media as your primary acquisition strategy? That’s also why you need targets.
    Targets can come from historical performance (how you did last time you / someone did something similar). They can come from other efforts (if my one hour long boring video can get 30k views in a week, should your two min peppy video get 1.2 million views?).
    Seek people who are accountable (client, management, Finance), they will help you identify targets for each KPI.
    Your Digital Marketing & Measurement Model will now look like this…
    digital marketing measurement model step four
    Now everyone knows what the company is shooting for. When you crack open Google Analytics, or other tools you’re using, you'll immediately jump with joy or weep when you see the KPI. You'll instantly know what is good and what is bad.
    Pro Tip: If you have no targets then make something up. Use a number that if reached won’t embarrass you / your management / me. :) That is a good start; you can revise the number next month after you get the first blush of data. What’s important is that you never measure without having some sense of what good or bad performance looks like. The more experience you have, the better you’ll get at setting targets. Good targets.
    Step 5: Identify valuable Segments for analysis.
    This last part is one that is particularly meaningful to me because of its incredible value.
    My definition: A group of people, their sources, onsite behavior, and outcomes.
    When you log into Google Analytics or any other data source you are deluged by data and you could go in a million different directions.
    Remember: We not only wanted focus, we wanted hyper-focus.
    Take 10 more minutes from the key executives. Have a discussion with them about what the most important segments to focus on are for each goal.
    Identify the sources of traffic, types of people desirable, their attributes, their behavior, business outcomes that they care about the most. And what customers to the site might want to accomplish. Balance for the company and the customers.
    You’ll provide leadership here and if you did a great job then your DMMM will look something like this:
    digital marketing measurement model step five
    What groups of visitors were important? What visitor behavior is desirable? What a traffic source was Marketing focused on? Who are we trying to attract? What on our site is important – at least according to us? And more such questions are important to answer to get to the optimal segments.
    Pro Tip: How to Identify Analytics Segments. Read. Act. Enough said.
    Hallelujah, praise the lord you are done!
    This was a lot of work, but I assure you that at this point you will thank God and your Cat that you worked this hard. You now have a structure that will guide your measurement efforts. The insights you derive will be of value because they are grounded in what’s important to the business and the leadership. And when you make recommendations based on data… guess what… action will be taken. Worth it, right?
    Here's the sexiness: You now know what's important and where to start and what to focus on. Your boss/client knows what success or failure looks like and how to connect her/his business objectives to your data. Prioritized business focus for relevant data analysis!
    You have the basis of a solid contract. Get the DMMM signed (preferably in blood!) so that all parties are clear on what everyone is supposed to be solving for.
    Punch-line: Always, always, always work with the above "Marketing & Measurement contract" in hand.
    Two Bonus Items.
    Some of you might have noticed that I’d eliminated the Tour Conversions KPI in step five. That was simply to make the image in step five looks prettier. But worry not, with that KPI included our Digital Marketing & Measurement Model will have this beautiful final form…
    digital marketing measurement model step six
    Can we run the most fantastically actionable web analytics program in any company now? Yes we can!
    One last gift for you.
    When you create your own Digital Marketing & Measurement Model you don't have to use the format I've used above, you can add to it as you see fit.
    I wanted to share with you a different format, and example. Below is the model for a retail e-commerce website with an online and offline presence:
    retail website digital marketing measurement model
     FY= Fiscal Year.
    ABC= Authenticity, Benefits, Communication.
    I hope that the two examples in this blog post will help inspire you to use the Digital Marketing & Measurement Model as the foundation of your web analytics efforts.
    I believe, with every fiber of my being, that this is will empower magnificent success.
    Good luck.

Why Your Business Needs A Rigid Digital Marketing Strategy


Why Your Business Needs A Rigid Digital Marketing Strategy

Generally speaking, this is because Google and other major search engines are continuously updating their search algorithms. If you’re persistently chasing these changes, the chances are you’re always going to be one step behind.
Instead of concentrating all your efforts on meeting the needs of search engines, you should focus on you audience and look at building a steadfast user-centric Digital Marketing strategy.
The best digital strategies are targeted and adaptable, built around the needs of a desired audience not only thinking about pleasing the search engines.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of having a well thought out strategy, as well as the drawbacks that you’ll face if your business isn’t properly prepared.

Advantages of a strong Digital Marketing Strategy

There are a number of reasons to invest time in developing a bulletproof strategy:

A Structured Campaign

A good strategy is the backbone of any successful online campaign. Look towards the future of your brand, discuss what you want to achieve with your Digital Marketing and which goals you want to meet. This should include a mix of Content Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing, web design and user experience.

Optimise Your Website

Websites can quickly become stale. The technicalities behind good web practises change regularly, which is why it’s so important that you utilise up-to-date SEO and Copywriting services to optimise your website.
Not investing in quality SEO can lead to your site declining in the SERP rankings and in turn result in you losing valuable business opportunities.
If you’re caught using outdated techniques, or any practices that might be deemed spammy (such as creating link wheels or stuffing pages with keywords), your site could suffer from penalties, leading to a dramatic loss in online conversions and revenue.
Read more on how SEO can benefit your website.

Build Your Brand

Each facet of your Digital Marketing Strategy will contribute towards growing your brand’s presence online.
This will allow you to enter new markets and attract new consumer segments. You can gain familiarity with fresh audiences whilst maintaining recognisability with existing customers. This way, you’ll stay at the forefront of the consumer’s mind with a far-reaching brand online.
Your strategy should include all aspects of your online presence. Having an integrated digital plan will help keep your brand consistent throughout all your online profiles, thus providing a familiar and trustworthy resource for your audience.

Produce Quality Content

High-quality Content Marketing should be a staple of any digital strategy. This can give your brand a voice, both onsite and offsite. Create content that engages, entertains and informs your audience, establishing your business as a knowledgeable thought-leader within your industry, and a valuable resource for consumers.
Content can be utilised at all stages of the sales funnel, including nurturing leads and aftersales support. Tailor your content and marketing efforts depending on which groups you’re focussing on, providing a personalised service to your customer profiles.

Maintain Existing Customers and Cultivate a Following

By regularly engaging with your existing fan base via Social Media and Content Marketing, you’re able to keep your audience satisfied and updated on all the latest activities within your business.
Once you’ve built your following, it’s important to nurture them by providing with fresh information and resources. Social Media, Content Marketing and Paid Advertising can be used in all stages of the buying funnel, from lead identification right through to monetisation.
You’re also able to monitor audience reactions to your content and address any complaints or suggestions instantly.

Drive New Leads

An effective Digital Marketing Strategy will be focussed on successfully completing your goals, whether they are raising brand awareness, expanding your business or increasing conversions.
New customers are essential for business growth, and Digital Marketing opens up a number of channels through which you can communicate with these potential leads.
In order to efficiently market your brand’s message to these consumers, you’ll need to break down your target audience into different segments, and understand how each group thinks and acts when online.
Understanding your audience, and knowing which profiles you need to target, is vital when it comes to promoting your campaign.

Stay Within Budget

Digital investment is highly measurable – ROI can be determined across many channels and can be contrasted against your marketing budget quite easily.
Having a detailed plan will help your business maintain its budget and progress through to the next financial year without overspending on marketing.

Dangers of Not Implementing a Digital Marketing Strategy

If your business enters the digital space without a detailed and structured plan, it may experience the following:
  • Loss of rankings – This leads to a loss of exposure, traffic and subsequently revenue. Not good for business.
  • Loss of market share – Meaning that competitors will move in and take away your customers.
  • Loss of potential customers – If your competition is reaching possible leads before you do, how will you attract new business?
  • Loss in customer retention – Consumers who have invested in your brand expect to be supplied up-to-date resources and information. You’ll need a dynamic plan in place to deliver this.
If you’re not marketing your products or services to your target audience effectively, then you can be sure that other businesses in your niche will.
You’ve all heard the famous statistic that it’s 6 times more costly to attract new customers than it is to retain your current ones (source), but without a detailed Digital Marketing strategy you may find your business unable to retain current customers or attract new ones.
The online marketplace is incredibly competitive and without a plan you’ll have no way to get ahead.

What You Need To Know

A well-rounded Digital Marketing encompasses all aspects of SEO, PPC, Content Marketing and Social Media. Join me next week when I look at what a Digital Marketing Strategy entails and the many benefits it provides.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch to find out more about the benefits of having a rigid Digital Marketing strategy or you can leave a comment below and I’ll be in touch as soon as possible.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Malware


Malware, short for malicious software, is a software designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner's informed consent. the expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.



Software is considered to be malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, scareware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software or program. In law, malware is sometimes known as a computer contaminant, for instance in the legal codes of several U.S. states, including California and West Virginia.

Spyware

Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Tipically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's personal computer. Sometimes, however, spyware such as keyloggers are installed by the owner of a share, corporate, or public computer on purpose in order to secretly monitor other users.

While the term spyware suggests software that secretly monitors the user's computing, the functions of spyware extend well beyond simple monitoring.
Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habits and sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software and redirecting Web browser activity.

Spyware is known to change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and/or loss of internet connection or functionality of other programs. In an attempt to increase the understanding of spyware, a more formal classification of its included software types is provided by the term privacy invasive sofware.

In response to the emergence of spyware, a small industry has sprung up dealing in anti-spyware software. Running anti-spyware software has become a widely recognized element of computer security practices for computers, especially those running Microsoft Windows. 

A number of jurisdictions have passed anti-spyware laws, which usually target any software that is surreptitiously installed to control a user's computer.

Adware

Adware, or advertising supported software, is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer. 

These advertisements can be in a form of a pop-up or pop-under. The object of the Adware is to generate revenue for its author. Adware by itself, is harmless; however, some adware may come with integrated spyware such as keyloggers and others privacy invasive software.

Keystroke logging

Keystroke logging
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


  (Redirected from Keystroke logger)
A keylogger example of a screencapture, which holds potentially confidential and private information. This is the corresponding text result of the keylogger: File:Keylogger-software-logfile-example.jpg

Keystroke logging, often referred to as keylogging or keyboard capturing, is the action of recording (or logging) the keystruck or key or button pressed on a keyboard, typically in a covert manner so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored.[1] It has uses in the study of human-computer interaction. There are numerous keylogging methods, ranging from hardware and software-based approaches to acoustic analysis.

Contents

    1 Application
        1.1 Software-based keyloggers
            1.1.1 Keystroke logging in Writing Process Research
            1.1.2 Related features
        1.2 Hardware-based keyloggers
    2 History
    3 Cracking
        3.1 Trojan
        3.2 Use by police
    4 Countermeasures
        4.1 Anti keyloggers
        4.2 Live CD/USB
        4.3 Anti-spyware / Anti-virus programs
        4.4 Network monitors
        4.5 Automatic form filler programs
        4.6 One-time passwords (OTP)
        4.7 Security tokens
        4.8 On-screen keyboards
        4.9 Keystroke interference software
        4.10 Speech recognition
        4.11 Handwriting recognition and mouse gestures
        4.12 Macro expanders/recorders
        4.13 Non-technological methods
    5 See also
    6 References
    7 External links

Application
Software-based keyloggers
A logfile from a software-based keylogger

These are computer programs designed to work on the target computer's software.[2] From a technical perspective there are several categories:

    Hypervisor-based: The keylogger can theoretically reside in a malware hypervisor running underneath the operating system, which remains untouched. It effectively becomes a virtual machine. Blue Pill is a conceptual example.
    Kernel-based: A program on the machine 'gets root' and hides itself in the OS, and starts intercepting keystrokes (because they always go through the kernel). This method is difficult both to write and to combat. Such keyloggers reside at the kernel level and are thus difficult to detect, especially for user-mode applications who don't have root access. They are frequently implemented as rootkits that subvert the operating system kernel and gain unauthorized access to the hardware, making them very powerful. A keylogger using this method can act as a keyboard device driver for example, and thus gain access to any information typed on the keyboard as it goes to the operating system.
    API-based: These keyloggers hook keyboard APIs inside a running application. The keylogger registers for keystroke events, as if it was a normal piece of the application instead of malware. The keylogger receives an event each time the user presses or releases a key. The keylogger simply records it.
        Windows APIs such as GetAsyncKeyState(), GetForegroundWindow(), etc. are used to poll the state of the keyboard or to subscribe to keyboard events.[3] A more recent example simply polls the BIOS for pre-boot authentication PINs that have not been cleared from memory.[4]
    Form grabbing based: Form grabbing-based keyloggers log web form submissions by recording the web browsing on submit events. These happen when the user finishes filling in the form and clicks on the "OK" or "Submit" or "Go" or anything that indicates that you're finished. This records form data before it is passed over the Internet. .
    Memory injection based: Memory Injection (MitB)-based keyloggers alter memory tables associated with the browser and other system functions to perform their logging functions. By patching the memory tables or injecting directly into memory, this technique can be used by malware authors who are looking to bypass Windows UAC (User Account Control). The Zeus and Spyeye Trojans use this method exclusively.[5] Non-Windows systems have analogous protection mechanisms that need to be thwarted somehow by the keylogger.
    Packet analyzers: This involves capturing network traffic associated with HTTP POST events to retrieve unencrypted passwords. This doesn't work if you're connected with HTTPS - in fact it was this kind of attack they were fighting when they invented HTTPS.
    Remote access software keyloggers

    These are local software keyloggers with an added feature that allows access to the locally recorded data from a remote location. Remote communication may be achieved using one of these methods:

        Data is uploaded to a website, database or an FTP server.
        Data is periodically emailed to a pre-defined email address.
        Data is wirelessly transmitted by means of an attached hardware system.
        The software enables a remote login to the local machine from the Internet or the local network, for data logs stored on the target machine to be accessed.

Most of these aren't stopped by HTTPS encryption because that only protects data in transit between computers; this is a threat in your own computer - the one connected to the keyboard.
Keystroke logging in Writing Process Research

Keystroke logging has become an established research method to study writing processes.[6][7] Different programs have been developed to collect online process data of writing activities.[8] The most common[citation needed] are: Inputlog,[9] Scriptlog,[10] and Translog.[11] Most of these programs have overlapping capabilities, but all of them have also very specific characteristics making them complementary in their use.

Keystroke logging can be a suitable research instrument in a number of writing contexts. Research areas include for instance the following: studies on cognitive writing processes in general, description of writing strategies in professional writing or creative writing, the writing development of children with and without writing difficulties, spelling, first and second language writing, and the writing of expert and novice writers in professional contexts and in specialist skill areas such as translation and subtitling. Not only can keystroke logging be used in research specifically on writing, it can also be integrated in educational domains for second language learning, programming skills, and typing skills.
Related features

Software keyloggers may be augmented with features that capture user information without relying on keyboard key presses as the sole input. Some of these features include:

    Clipboard logging. Anything that has been copied to the clipboard can be captured by the program.
    Screen logging. Screenshots are taken in order to capture graphics-based information. Applications with screen logging abilities may take screenshots of the whole screen, just one application or even just around the mouse cursor. They may take these screenshots periodically or in response to user behaviours (for example, when a user has clicked the mouse). A practical application used by some keyloggers with this screen logging ability is to take small screenshots around where a mouse has just clicked; these defeat web-based keyboards (for example, the web-based screen keyboards that are often used by banks) and any web-based on-screen keyboard without screenshot protection.
    Programmatically capturing the text in a control. The Microsoft Windows API allows programs to request the text 'value' in some controls. This means that some passwords may be captured, even if they are hidden behind password masks (usually asterisks).[12]
    The recording of every program/folder/window opened including a screenshot of each and every website visited, also including a screenshot of each.
    The recording of search engines queries, instant messenger conversations, FTP downloads and other Internet-based activities (including the bandwidth used).

Hardware-based keyloggers
A hardware-based keylogger.
A connected hardware-based keylogger.
Main article: Hardware keylogger

Hardware-based keyloggers do not depend upon any software being installed as they exist at a hardware level in a computer system.

    Firmware-based: BIOS-level firmware that handles keyboard events can be modified to record these events as they are processed. Physical and/or root-level access is required to the machine, and the software loaded into the BIOS needs to be created for the specific hardware that it will be running on.[13]

    Keyboard hardware: Hardware keyloggers are used for keystroke logging by means of a hardware circuit that is attached somewhere in between the computer keyboard and the computer, typically inline with the keyboard's cable connector. There are also USB connectors based Hardware keyloggers as well as ones for Laptop computers. the Mini-PCI card plugs into the expansion slot of a laptop. More stealthy implementations can be installed or built into standard keyboards, so that no device is visible on the external cable. Both types log all keyboard activity to their internal memory, which can be subsequently accessed, for example, by typing in a secret key sequence.[14] A hardware keylogger has an advantage over a software solution: it is not dependent on being installed on the target computer's operating system and therefore will not interfere with any program running on the target machine or be detected by any software. However its physical presence may be detected if, for example, it is installed outside the case as an inline device between the computer and the keyboard. Some of these implementations have the ability to be controlled and monitored remotely by means of a wireless communication standard.[15]

    Wireless keyboard sniffers: These passive sniffers collect packets of data being transferred from a wireless keyboard and its receiver. As encryption may be used to secure the wireless communications between the two devices, this may need to be cracked beforehand if the transmissions are to be read.

    Keyboard overlays: Criminals have been known to use keyboard overlays on ATMs to capture people's PINs. Each keypress is registered by the keyboard of the ATM as well as the criminal's keypad that is placed over it. The device is designed to look like an integrated part of the machine so that bank customers are unaware of its presence.[16]

    Acoustic keyloggers: Acoustic cryptanalysis can be used to monitor the sound created by someone typing on a computer. Each key on the keyboard makes a subtly different acoustic signature when struck. It is then possible to identify which keystroke signature relates to which keyboard character via statistical methods such as frequency analysis. The repetition frequency of similar acoustic keystroke signatures, the timings between different keyboard strokes and other context information such as the probable language in which the user is writing are used in this analysis to map sounds to letters.[17] A fairly long recording (1000 or more keystrokes) is required so that a big enough sample is collected.[18]

    Electromagnetic emissions: It is possible to capture the electromagnetic emissions of a wired keyboard from up to 20 metres (66 ft) away, without being physically wired to it.[19] In 2009, Swiss researchers tested 11 different USB, PS/2 and laptop keyboards in a semi-anechoic chamber and found them all vulnerable, primarily because of the prohibitive cost of adding shielding during manufacture.[20] The researchers used a wide-band receiver to tune into the specific frequency of the emissions radiated from the keyboards.

    Optical surveillance: Optical surveillance, while not a keylogger in the classical sense, is nonetheless an approach that can be used to capture passwords or PINs. A strategically placed camera, such as a hidden surveillance camera at an ATM, can allow a criminal to watch a PIN or password being entered.[21][22]

    Physical evidence: For a keypad that is used only to enter a security code, the keys which are in actual use will have evidence of use from many fingerprints. A passcode of four digits, if the four digits in question are known, is reduced from 10,000 possibilities to just 24 possibilities ( 10^4 versus 4! ). These could then be used on separate occasions for a manual "brute force attack".

    Smartphone sensors: Researchers showed the possibility of capturing keystrokes of nearby computer keyboard using accelerometer found in smartphones.[23] The technique depends on the person typing at their computer with their mobile phone on the desk nearby. The vibrations created by typing onto the computer keyboard can be detected by the accelerometer of the phone and translated by a program into readable sentences with as much as 80 percent accuracy. The technique involves working through probability by detecting pairs of keystrokes, rather than individual keys. It models "keyboard events" in pairs and then works out whether the pair of keys pressed is on the left or the right side of the keyboard and whether they are close together or far apart on the QWERTY keyboard. Once it has worked this out, it compares the results to a preloaded dictionary where each word has been broken down in the same way.[24] Similar technique is also used to capture keystrokes of touchscreen keyboard on the same phone,[25][26][27] while in some cases, in combination with gyroscope.[28][29]

History

An early keylogger was written by Perry Kivolowitz and posted to the Usenet news group net.unix-wizards,net.sources on November 17, 1983.[30] The posting seems to be a motivating factor in restricting access to /dev/kmem on Unix systems. The user-mode program operated by locating and dumping character lists (clists) as they were assembled in the Unix kernel.

In the 1970s, spies installed keystroke loggers in the US Embassy and Consulate buildings in Moscow and St Petersburg.[31][32] They installed the bugs in Selectric II and Selectric III electric typewriters.[33]

Soviet embassies used manual typewriters, rather than electric typewriters, for classified information—apparently because they are immune to such bugs.[33] As of 2013, Russian special services still use typewriters.[32][34][35]
Cracking

Writing simple software applications for keylogging can be trivial, and like any nefarious computer program, can be distributed as a trojan horse or as part of a virus. What is not trivial for an attacker, however, is installing a covert keystroke logger without getting caught and downloading data that has been logged without being traced. An attacker that manually connects to a host machine to download logged keystrokes risks being traced. A trojan that sends keylogged data to a fixed e-mail address or IP address risks exposing the attacker.
Trojan

Researchers devised several methods for solving this problem. They presented a deniable password snatching attack in which the keystroke logging trojan is installed using a virus or worm.[36] [37] An attacker who is caught with the virus or worm can claim to be a victim. The cryptotrojan asymmetrically encrypts the pilfered login/password pairs using the public key of the trojan author and covertly broadcasts the resulting ciphertext. They mentioned that the ciphertext can be steganographically encoded and posted to a public bulletin board such as Usenet.
Use by police

In 2000, the FBI used FlashCrest iSpy to obtain the PGP passphrase of Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr., son of mob boss Nicodemo Scarfo.[38] Also in 2000, the FBI lured two suspected Russian cyber criminals to the US in an elaborate ruse, and captured their usernames and passwords with a keylogger that was covertly installed on a machine that they used to access their computers in Russia. The FBI then used these credentials to hack into the suspects' computers in Russia in order to obtain evidence to prosecute them.[39]
Countermeasures

The effectiveness of countermeasures varies, because keyloggers use a variety of techniques to capture data and the countermeasure needs to be effective against the particular data capture technique. For example, an on-screen keyboard will be effective against hardware keyloggers, transparency will defeat some—but not all—screenloggers and an anti-spyware application that can only disable hook-based keyloggers will be ineffective against kernel-based keyloggers.

Also, keylogger program authors may be able to update the code to adapt to countermeasures that may have proven to be effective against them.
Anti keyloggers
Main article: Anti keylogger

An anti keylogger is a piece of software specifically designed to detect keyloggers on a computer, typically comparing all files in the computer against a database of keyloggers looking for similarities which might signal the presence of a hidden keylogger. As anti keyloggers have been designed specifically to detect keyloggers, they have the potential to be more effective than conventional anti virus software; some anti virus software do not consider certain keyloggers a virus, as under some circumstances a keylogger can be considered a legitimate piece of software.[citation needed]
Live CD/USB

Rebooting the computer using a Live CD or write-protected Live USB is a possible countermeasure against software keyloggers if the CD is clean of malware and the operating system contained on it is secured and fully patched so that it cannot be infected as soon as it is started. Booting a different operating system does not impact the use of a hardware or BIOS based keylogger.
Anti-spyware / Anti-virus programs

Many anti-spyware applications are able to detect some software based keyloggers and quarantine, disable or cleanse them. However, because many keylogging programs are legitimate pieces of software under some circumstances, anti spyware often neglects to label keylogging programs as spyware or a virus. These applications are able to detect software-based keyloggers based on patterns in executable code, heuristics and keylogger behaviours (such as the use of hooks and certain APIs).

No software-based anti-spyware application can be 100% effective against all keyloggers.[citation needed] Also, software-based anti-spyware cannot defeat non-software keyloggers (for example, hardware keyloggers attached to keyboards will always receive keystrokes before any software-based anti-spyware application).

However, the particular technique that the anti-spyware application uses will influence its potential effectiveness against software keyloggers. As a general rule, anti-spyware applications with higher privileges will defeat keyloggers with lower privileges. For example, a hook-based anti-spyware application cannot defeat a kernel-based keylogger (as the keylogger will receive the keystroke messages before the anti-spyware application), but it could potentially defeat hook- and API-based keyloggers.
Network monitors

Network monitors (also known as reverse-firewalls) can be used to alert the user whenever an application attempts to make a network connection. This gives the user the chance to prevent the keylogger from "phoning home" with his or her typed information.
Automatic form filler programs
Main article: Form filler

Automatic form-filling programs may prevent keylogging by removing the requirement for a user to type personal details and passwords using the keyboard. Form fillers are primarily designed for web browsers to fill in checkout pages and log users into their accounts. Once the user's account and credit card information has been entered into the program, it will be automatically entered into forms without ever using the keyboard or clipboard, thereby reducing the possibility that private data is being recorded. However someone with physical access to the machine may still be able to install software that is able to intercept this information elsewhere in the operating system or while in transit on the network. (Transport Layer Security (TLS) prevents the interception of data in transit by network sniffers and proxy tools.)
One-time passwords (OTP)

Using one-time passwords may be keylogger-safe, as each password is invalidated as soon as it is used. This solution may be useful for someone using a public computer. However, an attacker who has remote control over such a computer can simply wait for the victim to enter his/her credentials before performing unauthorised transactions on their behalf while their session is active.
Security tokens

Use of smart cards or other security tokens may improve security against replay attacks in the face of a successful keylogging attack, as accessing protected information would require both the (hardware) security token as well as the appropriate password/passphrase. Knowing the keystrokes, mouse actions, display, clipboard etc. used on one computer will not subsequently help an attacker gain access to the protected resource. Some security tokens work as a type of hardware-assisted one-time password system, and others implement a cryptographic challenge-response authentication, which can improve security in a manner conceptually similar to one time passwords. Smartcard readers and their associated keypads for PIN entry may be vulnerable to keystoke logging through a so-called supply chain attack[40] where an attacker substitutes the card reader/PIN entry hardware for one which records the user's PIN.
On-screen keyboards

Most on-screen keyboards (such as the on-screen keyboard that comes with Windows XP) send normal keyboard event messages to the external target program to type text. Software key loggers can log these typed characters sent from one program to another.[41] Additionally, keylogging software can take screenshots of what is displayed on the screen (periodically, and/or upon each mouse click), which means that although certainly a useful security measure, an on-screen keyboard will not protect from all keyloggers.[citation needed]
Keystroke interference software

Keystroke interference software is also available.[42] These programs attempt to trick keyloggers by introducing random keystrokes, although this simply results in the keylogger recording more information than it needs to. An attacker has the task of extracting the keystrokes of interest—the security of this mechanism, specifically how well it stands up to cryptanalysis, is unclear.
Speech recognition

Similar to on-screen keyboards, speech-to-text conversion software can also be used against keyloggers, since there are no typing or mouse movements involved. The weakest point of using voice-recognition software may be how the software sends the recognized text to target software after the recognition took place.
Handwriting recognition and mouse gestures

Also, many PDAs and lately tablet PCs can already convert pen (also called stylus) movements on their touchscreens to computer understandable text successfully. Mouse gestures use this principle by using mouse movements instead of a stylus. Mouse gesture programs convert these strokes to user-definable actions, such as typing text. Similarly, graphics tablets and light pens can be used to input these gestures, however these are less common everyday.

The same potential weakness of speech recognition applies to this technique as well.
Macro expanders/recorders

With the help of many programs, a seemingly meaningless text can be expanded to a meaningful text and most of the time context-sensitively, e.g. "en.wikipedia.org" can be expanded when a web browser window has the focus. The biggest weakness of this technique is that these programs send their keystrokes directly to the target program. However, this can be overcome by using the 'alternating' technique described below, i.e. sending mouse clicks to non-responsive areas of the target program, sending meaningless keys, sending another mouse click to target area (e.g. password field) and switching back-and-forth.
Non-technological methods

Alternating between typing the login credentials and typing characters somewhere else in the focus window[43] can cause a keylogger to record more information than they need to, although this could easily be filtered out by an attacker. Similarly, a user can move their cursor using the mouse during typing, causing the logged keystrokes to be in the wrong order e.g., by typing a password beginning with the last letter and then using the mouse to move the cursor for each subsequent letter. Lastly, someone can also use context menus to remove, cut, copy, and paste parts of the typed text without using the keyboard. An attacker who is able to capture only parts of a password will have a smaller key space to attack if he chose to execute a brute-force attack.

Another very similar technique uses the fact that any selected text portion is replaced by the next key typed. e.g., if the password is "secret", one could type "s", then some dummy keys "asdfsd". Then, these dummies could be selected with the mouse, and the next character from the password "e" is typed, which replaces the dummies "asdfsd".

These techniques assume incorrectly that keystroke logging software cannot directly monitor the clipboard, the selected text in a form, or take a screenshot every time a keystroke or mouse click occurs. They may however be effective against some hardware keyloggers.
See also

    Anti keylogger
    Black-bag cryptanalysis
    Computer surveillance
    Digital footprint
    Hardware keylogger
    Reverse connection
    Spyware
    Trojan horse
    Virtual keyboard

References

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    Maggi, Federico; Volpatto, Alberto; Gasparini, Simone; Boracchi, Giacomo; Zanero, Stefano (2011). "A fast eavesdropping attack against touchscreens". 7th International Conference on Information Assurance and Security (IEEE). doi:10.1109/ISIAS.2011.6122840. Retrieved 25 August, 2014.
    Marquardt, Philip; Verma, Arunabh; Carter, Henry; Traynor first4=Patrick (2011). "(sp)iPhone: decoding vibrations from nearby keyboards using mobile phone accelerometers". Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on Computer and communications security (ACM): 561–562. doi:10.1145/2046707.2046771. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
    "iPhone Accelerometer Could Spy on Computer Keystrokes". Wired. 19 October , 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
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    Cai, Liang; Chen, Hao (2011). "TouchLogger: inferring keystrokes on touch screen from smartphone motion". Proceedings of the 6th USENIX conference on Hot topics in security (USENIX). Retrieved 25 August, 2014.
    Xu, Zhi; Bai, Kun; Zhu, Sencun (2012). "TapLogger: inferring user inputs on smartphone touchscreens using on-board motion sensors". Proceedings of the fifth ACM conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks (ACM): 113-124. doi:10.1145/2185448.2185465. Retrieved 25 August, 2014.
    Miluzzo, Emiliano; Varshavsky, Alexander; Balakrishnan, Suhrid; Choudhury, Romit Roy (2012). "Tapprints: your finger taps have fingerprints". Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Mobile systems, applications, and services (ACM): 323-336. doi:10.1145/2307636.2307666. Retrieved 25 August, 2014.
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External links

    Keyloggers at DMOZ
    Keylogging Hardware and software keylogging methods.
    Introduction to Spyware Keyloggers
    Keyloggers: How they work and how to detect them
    How To Login From an Internet Cafe Without Worrying About Keyloggers

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A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program, which uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computers on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention. 

This is due to security shortcomings or deficiencies on the target computer. Unlike a virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. 

Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, even if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or modify files on a target computer.

Depending on the user activity means reduction in the speed of propagation. A computer worms in the long run reduces connexion in real time of the network, and before that happens is better to kill the node where is connecting the infected computer or terminal.