Protect your password in cyber cafe and on public computers
Some time or the other, you must have used cyber cafe or public computers to access
internet or mail.
Public computers are most prone to password hacking. Anyone can simply install a key logger
software to hack your password
Key logging is one of the most insidious threats to a user's personal information. Passwords,
credit card numbers etc.
It is now very easy for the key logger to harvest passwords. Each and every keystroke
(whatever you type on the keyboard) gets recorded in the key logger software and the person
installing it can easily view what you have typed in.
For example, if you go to hotmail.com and check your mails. Say your ID is
sarahj7@hotmail. com and password is snoopy2. the key logger software records your username
and password in its log file as
Microsoft Internet Explorer :
http://www.hotmail. comsarahj7@ hotmail.comsnoop y2/
Or
Fire fox:
http://www.hotmail. comsarahj7@ hotmail.comsnoop y2/
Risky isn't it???!!!
There's solution to this problem and you can easily fool the hacker.
The keylogger software sees and records everything,but it doesn't understand what it sees.
It does not know what to do with keys that are typed anywhere other than the password or
user name fields.
So, between successive keys of the password if you enter random keys, the keylogger software
wont ever come to konw where you typed in what..
In the process of recording the keys, the string that the keylogger receives will contain the
password, but embedded in so much random junk that discovering it is infeasible.
So...
1.Go to hotmail.com or yahoo.com or any of the site where you need to insert a password or
PIN.
2.Type in your user ID.
3. Type in the first characterof the password.
4. Click on the address bar in the internet explorer or Fire fox.
Type in some 3/4 random charachters.
5. Again go to password field and type in the second character of the password.
And probably third too.
6. Again go to the addressbar and type in a few more random character.
7. Back to the password field and the next characters of the password.
Keep on repeating the process till you type in the full password in the password field.
Instead of the password snoopy2 the keylogger now gets:
hotmail.comspqmlain sdgsosdgfsodgfdp uouuyhdg2
Here a total of 26 random characters have been inserted among the 7 characters of the actual
password!!!
No doubt it takes a little bit of more time than the usual process, but you're safe and secure