What Software Do Hackers Use? How Does a Keylogger Help Them?

With the advancement of technology, there has been an imminent increase in cybercrime as well. The rate at which cyber-attacks are taking place almost in every industry is alarming. Cybercriminals are looting users’ personal information and stealing their online identities.

Do you think cybercriminals and online hackers are geniuses? Do you believe they are clever and intelligent enough to hack someone’s device and steal all their confidential data? Well, that’s not the case.

Online hackers use specially designed software to hack someone’s personal data from their computers and cell phones. But what software do hackers use? Did you ever give a thought to it? In this post, we are going to discuss an important hacking tool that hackers use to hack someone’s sensitive information from their device.

What Software Do Hackers Use?

Hackers do have intelligent minds because without their brains they wouldn’t be even able to use the hacking tools to steal someone’s important information. Besides having smart minds, they make use of hacking tools and software with the help of which they hack someone’s device.

Hacking tools are basically computer programs as well as scripts that are designed to help you locate and exploit weaknesses in computer systems, web and mobile applications, servers, and networks. You can come across a huge variety of such hacking tools in the market. Some of them are used commercially whereas others are open-source.

However, in this article, our point of interest in one such hacking tool that allows you to hack every information a user enters on their computer or mobile phone. Did you get an idea of which hacking tool we are talking about? Well, we are talking about keyloggers.

What is a Keylogger?

Let’s start explaining keylogger with a basic question, “what is a keylogger?”

A keylogger is a computer program or a mobile application that is specially designed to capture and record all the keystrokes pressed by a user on their electronic device. For instance, if you want to monitor someone’s keystrokes that they make on their computer or mobile phone, you can consider installing a keylogger on their device.

As soon as the keylogger software is installed on the user’s device, it starts capturing and recording all the keystrokes pressed by them on their device. The recorded keystrokes are gathered in a log file and then all the confusing spaces are removed from the text so it becomes readable to the hacker.

The logged keystrokes are transported to the hacker’s online user account from where they can remotely monitor the keystrokes from anywhere and at any time.

The Uses of a Keyboard Recorder

Keyloggers are not only used by online hackers. This means a keyboard recorder is not only used for illegal purposes. A keylogger can only be used for legitimate reasons as well. For instance, parents can use the keyloggers to keep an eye on their kid’s keystrokes that they are pressing to search on their web browser, to chat with their friends, etc.

By keeping a close eye on their kids’ keystrokes, parents can keep their kids away from online dangers that include pornography, sexting, and cyberbullying.

Similarly, an employer can also use the keylogger software to monitor the keystrokes pressed by their employees on the company-owned device during office hours. By monitoring employees’ keystrokes, employers can protect the company from major data theft.

If or when an employee tries to share the company’s confidential information with an outsider via text message or email, the employer can instantly catch them red-handed especially when they have installed the keylogger software on their device.

Can A Keylogger Be Detected

It is easy to install the keylogger software or keylogger app on someone’s device. But can a keylogger be detected by the target user on their device? What is the possibility of the target user detecting the keylogger on their device?

Well, the truth is, yes, the target user can detect the keylogger installed on their device. They can use a couple of methods to find the keylogger on their device. They can use the Task Manager, open the list of Programs and Features on their computer, or simply run a malware scan on their device to detect the keylogger on their device.

The target user can only detect the keylogger installed on their device if they are aware of the above-mentioned methods. However, if your target user is your kid, they might not be able to detect the keylogger then.

You can expect your employee to locate the keylogger on their device but you can’t expect your kid to do the same. Therefore, if a person is technologically sound or has some basic technical skills, they can easily locate the keylogger on their device.

An online hacker can steal someone’s information just by installing the keylogger software on their device.