Begin forwarded message: From: Patrick Wagstrom <pwagstro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: May 23, 2006 2:57:53 PM EDT To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx Cc: steve.goldstein@xxxxxxx Subject: Re: [IP] a query re keylogger
This is, indeed, disturbing if it is verified. I have a related question for the OS experts. Keylogger (http://www.keyghost.com/ keylogger.htm) states: Works on any desktop PC & all PC operating systems, including Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Linux, OS/2, DOS, Sun Solaris and BeOS.** It doesn't mention MacOS. But, in a more general sense, if we were to run Windows virtualization applications like VMware or Parallels on an Intel-Mac, and if a malicious keylogging piece of spyware were to have invaded the virtual Windows machine running on our Macs, would it also log the activity on the Mac side as well as on the Windows side?
The device that you're looking at is a hardware keylogger, there is no software component. They're available in two flavors, USB and PS2. The PS2 flavor is not mac compatible because mac's don't have PS2 ports. Likewise, none of these models are compatible with a laptop because the keyboard doesn't connect to one of those interface ports. I'd imagine that the devices would have a hard time working on bluetooth keyboards too. Of course, I'm sure one could sniff the bluetooth. With regards to running in a virtual machine, you can get your virtual machine all loaded up spyware and not have it affect your host operating system. I've done a significant amount of spyware research where I've intentionally infected virtual machines with all sorts of pieces of malware and nothing has happened to my host operating system because of it. The isolation of the virtual machine makes it very difficult (nigh impossible) for them to migrate to your host operating system. --Patrick Wagstrom Ph.D. Student in Engineering and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/