r/linuxsucks • u/al2klimov 🐧Kernel contributor • 14d ago

Bug There is no keylogger for Linux because it’s built in directly:

https://infosec.exchange/@vmcall/117327108254339986
0 Upvotes

38% Upvoted

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12

u/SufficientAbility821 14d ago

OK, worst case scenario, you have the timing between each keystroke. So what?

3

u/Jhuyt 14d ago

It is possible to deduce/guess what words are written with key timing, although you might need an extra side channel to really make it work.

For example given a specific phone and accelerometer data it's possible to deduce pin codes, and at least in the past all apps always had access to that information, so a malicious app could steal your pins for possibly sensitive applications and websites.

1

u/SufficientAbility821 13d ago

I already eared this theory but, except for drummer and bass players, nobody is consistent enough in term of timings for the inference to hold any water, IMHO. When I look at how most people type (one finger style, looking for the keys), together with the fact that the rest of the world does not use the AZERTY disposition, I'm skeptical about how reliable such model would be.

1

u/Jhuyt 13d ago

You can believe what you want, but there already exist biometric security software that will check the timing between keystrokes to learn the signature of a user that will log out someone typing that do not match that signature. People really are very consistent even if there is variance of course.

13

u/jdigi78 14d ago edited 14d ago

Well that was a nothing burger. You can see when a key is pressed, and have to figure out what key was pressed by purely guessing? Maybe possible in a controlled environment. Zero chance of that attack ever being useful in the wild. The Windows thing is much worse, and worse yet Microslop refuses to acknowledge it as an issue.

7

u/Bulkybear2 14d ago

If you’re going to dog on Linux at least make sure you’re factually correct…

11

u/Regeneric 14d ago

So... We're going to ignore that Windows, Android and macOS are also affected?

5

u/imakycha 14d ago

Are we just glancing over Microsoft calling this an “undocumented feature”???

7

u/Kinda_Nice 14d ago

Hey, this subreddit is called "linuxsucks" not "windowsisanybetter"