Inside-Logger Blog

A little bit of history

The very first spy software representatives weren’t even called “spy software”. They were the little applications build up in the computer science labs by enthusiastic students, or just geeks looking for fun. Meanwhile, in the background, the secret information services already had some similar applications going on and it is known now that FBI used “magic lantern”, a similar monitoring software.
For the general public, the first officially known application of catching keystrokes was KeyKey Monitor released by Mikkotech. Their primarily goal was to aim the application towards security and back-up reasons, but through a reseller, Mikkotech has started selling this application intensely. Clickbank was heavily involved in promoting this application and even today it still holds one of the largest affiliate networks.
Let’s take a look at the first marketing ideas that supported KeyKey Monitor:

1. Find out what your spouse is doing online
2. Monitor your employees
3. Monitor your children
4. Stop intruders and internal data-theft
5. Back-up your work

With this breaking of the ice it was just a matter of time until other companies and developers made their own key logging applications. The market was not very clear, but everyone wanted (and in their own way succeeded) to sell their branded keyloggers.

In the final years of the past decade, a new milestone and reference point was established. Spectorsoft released on the market Spector, Eblaster and SpyAgent. This set of applications will be from then on the inspiration source of almost all the developers involved in creating spy software. The Spectorsoft package was really powerful, being capable of monitoring the keystrokes, the visited websites, catching passwords, and chat conversations. They were even capable of recording screenshots in a way that would not affect the computer’s performance. The spy applications were password protected and had the logs encrypted, and that issue should preoccupy someone if the applications were found in the first place because they were stealth applications, invisible in the start menu or the Task Manager.

And back to the present day

The informational field was already exponentially developing in the 90s so after all the worm, virus and Trojans applications had exploded, a revolution was needed in the Anti-Virus niche. And so it was done. Only that in the process, the key logging applications got bumped in the head by it. SpyCop, Raytown Corp’s Anti Keylogger and PrivacyKeyboard were all created to assure the user’s privacy and block the spying applications.
In the present time, all the anti-spyware and anti-malware products are fighting against hundreds of harmful applications, and almost all of them detect keyloggers. Because of the way in which a keylogger operates, catching system calls in order to reveal the keystrokes, the anti-spyware applications categorize them as threats. But it is important to know that not the application itself, the keylogger, is harmful or illegal, but the intention of some users who want to use them as personal information theft tools.
Also, Anti-Spyware applications do not guarantee your digital safety. It is a common practice for those applications to be just a disguise for even more invasive and harmful applications. Still, good products exist out there, so you just have to study your case before buying one.

The spy software market remains an open field; opened to, let’s say, whatever. And that’s because a clear legislation is not set up yet and also because the product development (both spy software applications and anti-spyware applications) continues.