Keyloggers fight terrorist in cybercafes

September 2007

Keyloggers proposed to fight terrorist use of cybercafés. A nonprofit organization in Mumbai, India has proposed that police use keylogging software at cybercafés to keep track of communications between terrorists. Public computers at cybercafés offer terrorists the anonymity they require, said the president of the Foundation for Information Security and Technology (FIST) in Mumbai in an interview Tuesday. Terrorists are known to use instant messaging (IM) services from companies like Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., and these companies do not share information from IM chats with the police, he added. Keyloggers are software on a computer that record a user's key strokes—whatever the user types—on a computer keyboard. Data from keyloggers would be uploaded to centralized servers where it would be available to the police for scrutiny. Mumbai police have yet to give their approval. The keyloggers would be activated centrally when a suspect walks into a cybercafé or when suspicious activity is noted, though it is unclear who would determine activity to be suspicious. Though some have criticized the proposal, fearing that it will endanger the privacy of ordinary citizens, the nonprofit and others say it is a small price to pay to protect against loss of life from terrorism. In July last year, seven bombs planted in Mumbai's suburban trains killed over 200 people and injured another 700. Terrorists are increasingly using the Internet to communicate with one another as they are aware that telephone and mobile phones connections are under Indian government surveillance, according to the nonprofit’s president.