A bundle of portable programs for cybercafé security

1

Thank you for this. I am sure it will be useful for many people.

Taiwanderful - The Taiwan Guide

2

Thanks also.
Would be a good idea to link the site into a sticky (for those that read stickys.)
Looks like it would be a fairly foolproof way to use internet cafes.

Question: Keylscrambler needs admin privileges to install. Quite likely that admin account may not be available for a user. How much of a gap does this leave. (I'm assuming that it would be covered by the encryption in the KeePass password manager?)

We demand rigidly defined and clearly marked areas of doubt and uncertainty

3

Thanks, wix99, and I'm grateful for your del.icio.us listing!

Yes, MarkJoy, you're quite correct about the KeyScrambler program needing admin privileges for installation. You'll also need to reboot the machine to load another keyboard driver. I think this makes it suitable for someone staying longer, using the same Internet cafe and wanting assurance that "their" computer is safe for entering passwords on, no matter what may have befallen it (spyware installs) since the user's last visit. This is all explained in my own "cafeKlysm" help document, which is available as a separate download (from the main download page) before you decide whether you want the basic or full version of the program. Only the full version of cafeKlysm contains KeyScrambler.

Other users will be fine entering passwords using Neo's SafeKeys, which produces output not capable of being copied by clipboard loggers or keystroke loggers. The encryption in Keepass simply protects its database from any possible attack. Although you copy-paste the password into the "password" field in your online form, the Windows' clipboard receives no event notification that the clipboard contents have changed. The clipboard contents are cleared after a single paste operation (into the "password" field on your login webpage) and so using KeePass is relatively safe from clipboard loggers. I say "relatively," as keylogger and trojan design evolves daily (sometimes hourly), such is the ingenuity of online criminals.

I would rank the security offered by the three applications as running from KeyScrambler at the top through to Neo's SafeKeys in the middle with KeyPass down in last place - but it's a close race.

travel info | stay secure in a cybercafe | travel downloads | NEW c@nnab!s screensavers

4

Some screenshots:

Basic version

Full version

travel info | stay secure in a cybercafe | travel downloads | NEW c@nnab!s screensavers

5

Elsewhere I have read that onscreen keyboards only fool hardware keyloggers (which are rarely used anymore) and do not fool software keyloggers - since they route through the same channels where the logger resides. And many copy screenshots, and clipboard calls as well...

There is a good (occasionally tangential) discussion of keyloggers / screenloggers / clipboard loggers here:

http://lifehacker.com/364143/avoid-keyloggers-with-neos-safekeys

The takehome message: there are ways to try and be safe, but ultimately assume anything entered into a public computer is public information.

"One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of wandering." - Alfred North Whitehead

6

This is true for Windows' inbuilt onscreen keyboard, Driftless. However, Neo's SafeKeys (which I included in my bundle) sends no keyboard event notification through the system. The characters you type are obscured by asterisks, so screen-capture loggers will get nothing. If you move the password to your login box with highlight-drag-drop, there will be no event notification sent that the clipboard contents have changed. As long as you drag-drop to a password box, the characters remain masked, and so screenshots would reveal nothing.

The KeePass program I included can also copy passwords across to a login box using drag-drop, which seems a watertight way to add your passwords from a secure store, unless I hear some software developer convince me otherwise.

travel info | stay secure in a cybercafe | travel downloads | NEW c@nnab!s screensavers

7

Thanks very much for the information.
Good to learn, and both interesting and reassuring.
Should I need to use an internet cafe again (likely) I'll definitely be taking this along!

We demand rigidly defined and clearly marked areas of doubt and uncertainty

8

Sounds good, Toke - and my questions don't mean to belittle your efforts in anyway - This is a niche that needs to be filled, and thanks for your efforts.

I have been toying with keepass as well - so far it seems good...

Basically, I just want to make sure people know that NOTHING is foolproof - and as long as you are using a public computer, there is no way to be completely safe. You can minimize risks, but there are still risks.

Cheers!

"One main factor in the upward trend of animal life has been the power of wandering." - Alfred North Whitehead

9

Updated version of cafeKlysm available:

cafeKlysm "Typhoon" (full version) updated to 1.0.6

What's changed?
Mozilla Thunderbird portable was updated from version 2.0.0.12 to 2.0.0.14

(cafeKlysm "Breeze" is unaffected)

Get it here

travel info | stay secure in a cybercafe | travel downloads | NEW c@nnab!s screensavers

10

Updated version of cafeKlysm available:

Both versions of cafeKlysm (full and basic) updated to 1.1.0

What's changed?

1. updated interface which now includes a way to safely eject the drive if Windows complains about some file being in use;
2. Keepass was updated to version 1.11;
3. Pidgin (full version only) was updated to version 2.4.2

Get cafeKlysm here

travel info | stay secure in a cybercafe | travel downloads | NEW c@nnab!s screensavers

11

Updated version of cafeKlysm available:

Both versions of cafeKlysm (full and basic) updated to 1.1.1

What's changed?

Firefox portable version was updated to version 3.0

Get cafeKlysm here

travel info | stay secure in a cybercafe | travel downloads | NEW c@nnab!s screensavers

12

Looks nice and I am going to try this, but when would this support a portable writing program, since I use lot of Word (does not have to be that). That is the dilemma I have and I am sure lot of people will have.

Harmony

13

It's also a tiny dilemma for me, noflylist. I decided to focus cafeKlysm on Internet security, since there are very good downloadable and free portable applications which will do what you require (OpenOffice, or example).

By keeping the download size of cafeKlysm reasonably small, people on slow connections can obtain the basic version (about 12MB) easily enough. Now if you want to, adding the portable version of OpenOffice will require about 85MB in download and take up around 250MB when uncompressed on your USB flash drive. Perhaps I should add a custom launch button so that those who want to retrofit a program like this will be able to start it from within cafeKlysm.

In any event, there are few privacy issues with using a portable word processing program on a public computer, unless you're typing some sensitive information you don't want copied by a possible keylogger. Just clear the clipboard and the system Temp files after you finish (CCleaner in cafeKlysm can do this in a flash) and be sure you save the document inside the file system of your USB drive.

travel info | stay secure in a cybercafe | travel downloads | NEW c@nnab!s screensavers

14

Thanks, that was the answer I was looking for, I wanted to use portable office from CafeKlysm, I hope you implement custom Launch button, with standard disclaimers of course, for people to expand on. Good to know CCCleaner can help in cleaning up after temp mess created by other programs outside of CafeKlysm.

Thanks, wonderful, will help in my coming India trip! Before that I will give this a roadtest in coming weeks!

Harmony