The history of the use of keyloggers for surveillance purposes dates to the early days of computers. Wikipedia details sundry uses of keyloggers in the 1970s and early 1980s for various purposes, including government clandestine operations.
One of the most famous early incidents took place in the mid-1970s, when Soviet spies developed an amazingly clever hardware keylogger that targeted IBM Selectric typewriters in the US Embassy and Consulate buildings in Moscow and St Petersburg. Once installed, the keyloggers measured the barely detectable changes in each typewriter’s regional magnetic field as the print head rotated and moved to type each letter. (Meanwhile, Soviet embassies opted to use manual typewriters rather than electric ones for typing classified information.)
While various forms of keylogging have been occurring for quite some time, the boom in the creation and use of commercial keyloggers grew to significant numbers in the mid to late 1990s with a all kinds of products quickly coming to market during that time. Since then, the number of commercial keyloggers available for purchase has exploded to thousands of different products with varying target audiences and in many languages.
And although historically keyloggers have targeted the home user for fraud, industry and modern state-sponsored keylogging is a serious problem, in which a phishing expedition compromises a low-level employee or functionary, and then finds a way to work itself up in the organization.
One of the most famous early incidents took place in the mid-1970s, when Soviet spies developed an amazingly clever hardware keylogger that targeted IBM Selectric typewriters in the US Embassy and Consulate buildings in Moscow and St Petersburg. Once installed, the keyloggers measured the barely detectable changes in each typewriter’s regional magnetic field as the print head rotated and moved to type each letter. (Meanwhile, Soviet embassies opted to use manual typewriters rather than electric ones for typing classified information.)
While various forms of keylogging have been occurring for quite some time, the boom in the creation and use of commercial keyloggers grew to significant numbers in the mid to late 1990s with a all kinds of products quickly coming to market during that time. Since then, the number of commercial keyloggers available for purchase has exploded to thousands of different products with varying target audiences and in many languages.
And although historically keyloggers have targeted the home user for fraud, industry and modern state-sponsored keylogging is a serious problem, in which a phishing expedition compromises a low-level employee or functionary, and then finds a way to work itself up in the organization.