While auto-complete, word prediction and spell check are everyday conveniences, there is a price to be paid. It takes a lot of data to guess what that next word may be, thus the price – a keylogger in every Windows 10 PC and laptop.
Keyloggers are nothing new, RemoteKeyloggers.net and other software developers have been providing them since the days of the Commodore 64. What is new however is giving Big Brother the green stamp to have access to your most personal searches, videos history, locations you’ve visited and online conversations.
That’s not all, many 3rd party Windows Keylogger applications could do much more. Access the webcam, record audio, detect motion and even invisibly livestream to a remote device. Which leaves one to ask, if that’s what 3rd party apps could do, what other information might be vulnerable.
It was even common to see features such as remote installation and file binding. These features made it possible to defeat previous versions of Windows security by simply binding the keylogger to a photo, PDF or even an Excel spreadsheet.
Thankfully with the introduction of Windows Defender, remote installation has become a thing of the past. Microsoft has done an excellent job on keeping Windows 10 running clean and free of malware, without forcing its users to shell out extra cash on 3rd party anti-virus and trojan software. Or have they?
In-fact, they’ve done such a good job that according to Vox.com, Apple’s Mac now outpaces Windows in malware and viruses; this headline is backed up by AppleInsider and others. Don’t rejoice just yet, Windows still suffers from multiple vulnerbilities.
The good news is that the Windows 10 Spring Update of 2018 included new and expanded privacy controls, while still offering the same text assistance that Windows users have grown to love. This allowed for Window’s users to choose whether or not they would like to contribute to language recognition and suggestion capabilities (read: keylogger) of the OS.
That was then, this is now. A recent article in Forbes Magazine suggests that Microsoft still suffers nearly 100 CVE’s (common vulnerbilities and exposures). Many of them within its own Internet Explorer. A recent “Patch Tuesday” update was the largest seen since 2019 according to Satnam Narang, a senior research engineer at Tenable.
For those users who received the Patch Tuesday update, the number of CVE’s has been reduced to around 12 critical issues. Not perfect, but better than dealing with them one by one. The Microsoft Secure Boot Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability allows for the installation of keyloggers by bypassing boot protection; thankfully a defect that has not yet been exploited.
The next Windows 10 update should take place in May of 2020 and the new build is said to be larger than the last. With it come new and even more exploitable features; followed by a never ending supply of Patch Tuesdays. That being said, the fact that malware developers are switching to Mac says a lot about Windows latest OS and how difficult it has become for bad agents to exploit its CVE’s.
To learn more about Windows security and keylogger updates. Visit remotekeyloggers.net and check the Window’s OS roadmap, current CVE’s keylogging applications and accountability software.