If you constantly deal with bank or electronic accounts, it must be\ryour worst nightmare--to wake up and learn that you are a bankrupt.\rSome crook stole your personal data and all the money you have been\rsweating blood for years has flown to somebody else's account. Almost\reverybody must have heard that such a tradegy is called identity theft\rand millions of people in the USA alone suffer the same every year.\rPoor consolation for its victims, isn't it?

Unfortunately, businessmen frequently are targets for identity\rthieves, especially online. Lots of articles on identity theft,\r"how-to-avoid" tips, and scary stories about the victims circulate\rthrough the Web and other media. The authors remind people again and\ragain that they should be cautious when giving anybody their private\rinfo as well as care for their PCs' security. But in spite of all\rtheir effort identity theft is still the most rapidly growing crime.

Software developers are doing their best, too. They can't be of much\rhelp if somebody plainly looks over your shoulder and writes your\rcredit card number down. It's for you to take care and never reveal\ryour personal info to anybody who asks for it. What they can do is to\rcreate new solutions to the urgent problems like data stealing.\rKeylogging spyware--the very programs that make lots of such crime\rpossible--are pretty much written about lately. These programs\rsecretly monitor everything users do on their PCs.

Keyloggers are used--by themselves or as a part of a virus or a Trojan\r-- much more widely than PC users think; it is an open secret that the\rlion's share of identity theft that happens online is because of\rkeylogging spyware. The losses caused by stealing PINs, logins, and\rother valuable data, are well comparable with the damage from viruses.\rActually, if a virus or a Trojan contains a built-in key logger module\r(and it often does), the end user finds himself in a pretty tough\rsituation. The problem is that most anti-keylogging programs warn\rusers when it is too late. The data have already been captured and\rsent. Why does it happen?

Almost all anti-spy software existing at the present moment works\rusing the same scheme: spy program is detected and then blocked or\reliminated. Detecting viruses or spy software is the crucial step of\rthe whole process--all the protection depends on whether the anti-spy\rsoftware is able to detect as many spies as possible. Signature bases\rwhich all these products depend on, is actually the "list" of\rsignatures ¨C small pieces of spy programs' codes. Anti-virus or\ranti-spy program actually scans the system and compares its codes with\rthose in signature bases. So, in this case only the spies whose\rsignatures already are in the base will be detected and eventually\r"caught". As long as anti-spy software is regularly updated and the\rsystem doesn't come across some unknown spyware product, everything is\rall right.

The problem is that lots of programs which could be used for stealing\rdata are not included into signature bases right now. Some of them\rwill never be.

There is good deal of people capable of creating something brand-new\rspy, unknown to anti-spyware developers. The period of time when a new\rspy already exists, but the updates have not been released yet, is the\rvery time when hackers make their biggest profits.

Spy programs can be created for the specific purpose, such as\rindustrial espionage, so they will never be represented in the base.\rMoreover, some monitoring programs can be used as spy programs as\rwell, though they are not always included into signature bases. As we\rcan see, a signature base is the weak spot of anti-spy protection; it\ris, so to speak, a joint in the armor. Information thieves also know\rabout it.

Fortunately, software developers are constantly looking for new\rsolutions. One of the new trends in anti-spyware developing is not to\ruse signature bases as means of detecting spyware. There is three\rbasic advantages in such an approach. First, the product gets rid of\rits the least reliable part; second, there is no so urgent need for\rupdates anymore; and last, but certainly not least-¨Cthe product\rbecomes capable of blocking the destructive activity of even unknown\rspyware. To read more about this new approach follow the link in the\rsignature.

When products of such a kind become widespread, there would be much\rmore problems for hackers in future. However, there is no guarantee\rthat no innovative spy software appears in response.

Whether we like it or not, all malware "evolves" very quickly; new\rschemes are being developed, and new software which online criminals\rcreate and utilize becomes more and more malicious and "selective".\rNew keyloggers as well as keylogger-containing viruses and Trojans,\rappear all the time; the losses these programs may cause to a business\rare enormous. That is why in some businesses there is an acute need\rfor separate anti-keylogging protection.

Alexandra Gamanenko currently works at the Raytown Corporation, LLC -- an innovative software developing company company. \rvisit its website at \rhttp://www.anti-keyloggers.com