Keyloggers and Password Edit Boxes
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Does anyone know if the standard Windows password entry control has any sort of protections on it to stop snooping processes like keyloggers from intercepting the password as you type it?
I've started to use Remote Desktop a lot from the clusters at school and I'm afraid that someone will get admin access to my box in my dorm room.
Quote:Original post by Telamon
Does anyone know if the standard Windows password entry control has any sort of protections on it to stop snooping processes like keyloggers from intercepting the password as you type it?
I've started to use Remote Desktop a lot from the clusters at school and I'm afraid that someone will get admin access to my box in my dorm room.
No password boxes don't have any such protection. I suggest using an encrypted connect (I don't know if remote desktop has one or not) and changing your password on a regular basis. You might also consider not using remote desktop as admin so you can limit the damage should someone get unauthorized access. Also back up important information and consider encrypting it if it's sensitive.
I don't know if having an encrypted connection will help this or not, because at some point, the remote desktop app on the host machine needs to generate a plain old (unencrypted) key event for the sake of the application that has the password box, and the key event can be intercepted as usual.
If someone knows a good way to defend against keyloggers then I'd be interested too. I usually just make sure to use throwaway passwords, and change them often.
If someone knows a good way to defend against keyloggers then I'd be interested too. I usually just make sure to use throwaway passwords, and change them often.
Quote:Original post by pinacolada
I don't know if having an encrypted connection will help this or not, because at some point, the remote desktop app on the host machine needs to generate a plain old (unencrypted) key event for the sake of the application that has the password box, and the key event can be intercepted as usual.
If someone knows a good way to defend against keyloggers then I'd be interested too. I usually just make sure to use throwaway passwords, and change them often.
I suggested the encrypted connection in case someone logged the network traffic. I don't know if Remote Desktop sends the password in plain text or not.
The best defense against keyloggers is to trust the system you're using. Changing passwords doesn't help since it takes mere seconds to change your password after they've keylogged it; and that's assuming they're nice, and don't just nuke your machine after login. All the password changing in the world isn't going to help then. And realistically, all the password changing isn't going to help if they 'just' compromise your machine, since everything there should then be considered compromised and possibly replaced with malicious versions.
Defense against keyloggers for the ultra paranoid:
Keyloggers don't track the mouse, or window focus, so just type what seems to be some kind of E-mail or post to a message board such as this one. Each time you type a character of your password, switch to the password entry box.
It will look totally innocent to those reading the logs, and they will be none the wiser about your passwords.
Keyloggers don't track the mouse, or window focus, so just type what seems to be some kind of E-mail or post to a message board such as this one. Each time you type a character of your password, switch to the password entry box.
It will look totally innocent to those reading the logs, and they will be none the wiser about your passwords.
Quote:Original post by Anonymous Poster
Defense against keyloggers for the ultra paranoid:
Keyloggers don't track the mouse, or window focus, so just type what seems to be some kind of E-mail or post to a message board such as this one. Each time you type a character of your password, switch to the password entry box.
It will look totally innocent to those reading the logs, and they will be none the wiser about your passwords.
31337 [grin]
One thing i do for my file encrypter app. (basically it encrypts a file, and makes it a self-decryting exetutable, very nifty).
It fires a few hundred random keypresses/sec using sendkeys in vb.
It can filter the keypresses out, as it knows what was sent, but no other programs can.
As for remote access..... for winxp, i use the remote assistance program, and i send an invitation to myself.
I can then dial in, but after i've used it, the invitation is no longer valid, and can't be used again :-)
From,
NIce coder
It fires a few hundred random keypresses/sec using sendkeys in vb.
It can filter the keypresses out, as it knows what was sent, but no other programs can.
As for remote access..... for winxp, i use the remote assistance program, and i send an invitation to myself.
I can then dial in, but after i've used it, the invitation is no longer valid, and can't be used again :-)
From,
NIce coder
Quote:Original post by Nice Coder
It fires a few hundred random keypresses/sec using sendkeys in vb.
It can filter the keypresses out, as it knows what was sent, but no other programs can.
That's no good for a hardware keylogger, though...
Quote:Original post by Nice Coder
It fires a few hundred random keypresses/sec using sendkeys in vb.
It can filter the keypresses out, as it knows what was sent, but no other programs can.
Furthermore, sendkeys doesn't actually simulate a key press, does it? Doesn't it just invoke the event handler for the window, as if a key had been pressed? In that case, there are many software keyloggers that wouldn't be fooled by this either.
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