An approach for detecting malicious keyloggers

Keyloggers are applications that are installed onto computers with the intent of monitoring and storing keystrokes that are input by a user. These keystrokes can either be stored on a physical hard disk or transmitted via a network connection to a remote location. Because of their functions, keyloggers have a potential of being used for malicious purposes. In order to protect privacy, it is important to realize the threat that a keylogger application might pose and identify appropriate methods for detecting it. The method presented in this research provides a standardized approach to detect unknown keylogging software from a computer. We also conducted experiments on a variety of keyloggers to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.