USB device monitors all your keystrokes
IF YOU’RE THE kind of person who likes snoop around and read other people’s emails, or a spouse who feels they are being kept in the dark, the following gadget might come in useful.
A company called Thumbs Up has released a gadget apparently capable of recording every single keystoke made on your computer. Cleverly disguised as a USB stick, the device, dubbed Keyshark, plugs in between your keyboard and computer and then proceeds to store every bit of incriminating (or non incriminating) evidence on its 4MB of internal memory.
The company boasts that the Keyshark is totally undetectable and stores data even if your computer system locks up or suffers a power cut. It also apparently works with all operating systems as long as the computer has a USB keyboard.
Of course the company doesn’t specify that its product is perfect for suspecting cuckolded spouses, instead touting the gadget as ideal for monitoring children's internet activity (to protect their safety, of course), for bosses to monitor staff activity (scary stuff), and for computer programmers to recover code in case of power failure and computer error.
So if your other half (or your boss) buys you an innocent looking USB next birthday, you might want to tell him/her where to stick it. µ
L’Inq
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"To access the recorded data, you simply type menu in a text editor"

Can't imagine that every being done by accident :rolleyes:
Erm, these devices have been around for years. I remember them from at least four years ago, and a quick web search will find you dozens of products already on the market.

Basically this is just regurgitated marketing fluff, not quite the kind of thing we usually find on our dear Inq...
"To access the recorded data, you simply type 'menu' in a text editor"
Can't be right surely? So if the person being snooped types menu somewhere... ?
I have to question the utility of a USB key that records my keystrokes.
Not saying that it doesn't work, but I don't spend all day with the USB stick I have stuck into the PC. I only stick it in when I intend to transfer data.
Thus, my boss can buy me all the surveillance thingys he wants, he'll only get the keystrokes that correspond to me transferring data to the bugger.
On top of that, I am a consultant. I regularly go on client site to do work. I wonder what some of my bank customers would say if I waltzed in with a USB-disguised keystroke recorder. It might get rather nasty, I think.
To access the recorded data, you simply type MENU in a text editor and the KeyShark comes to life. A MENU is displayed with options to erase data, view data, search data for keywords, CHANGE PASSWORD, or disable the device.

Imagine having a telnet conversation in Notepad with your USB keystroke logger.
1. consider these, ferinstance
http://www.keyspyer.com/

2. usually the password is settable on these thi
ngs, so using the word "menu" would be daft.

3. Any time you access your webmail, your bank account, your amazon-account with one-click enabled, etc, and do so on someone else's machine, you are trusting their machine to have no spyware on it, and none of these devices on it, either.

Since there have been people convicted of using 'em on internet-cafe machines to harvest people's passwords, it's a known risk.

got a boss?
check the keyboard-cable, but don't assume there's no keylogger software "for security reasons" on the system.

Bluntly, DON'T put your passwords through systems you don't trust, or if you do, don't whine when you are subject to identity-theft.

Have A Nice Day, now...
How much did you guys get paid for this ad? This thing is way overpriced...
Regurgitated fluff I agree.



Too often found on the Inquirer!!!!
How many USB sticks do you use on a normal basis that plug in between your keyboard's cable and your computer?

How can that *not* look wonky?

Inicidentally
[quote]
Does the KeyShark ™ work on a USB keyboard?
No, KeyShark only works with PS/2 keyboards, and older DIN style keyboards (larger round plug, which requires adapters DIN-PS/2).
[/quote]

So, it isn't even USB. I have no idea what product you are looking at, but it isn't the "Thumbs Up Keyshark."

Also, I second (third, fourth..) the fact that these things are old hat. They've been around for a long time.
ok let's tell the truth - stuff presented on www.keelog.com seems to be much more sophisticated and (what is surprizing) cheaper.... as I know wholesale prices are 2-3 times lower than retail. Good to try... they have published even a do it yourself free version!