How to Install Logkeys to monitor Keyboard strokes in Linux

To Monitor Keyboard Keystrokes Using ‘ LogKeys’ in Linux

Key Logging is the technique of storing keystrokes with or without the knowledge of the user. Keylogging can be hardware or software based. A hardware based keylogger does not depend upon any kind of software and keystroke logging is performed at hardware level, whereas a software based keylogger depends upon a special kind of software for keylogging.

There are several keylogger software applications for all platforms such as Windows, Mac and Linux. Instructions to Monitor Keyboard Keystrokes Using ‘ LogKeys’ in Linux is explained in this tutorial.

Log Keys

Logkeys is a Linux keylogger, which is more updated than any other keylogger. Logkeys generate a log of all characters and also function keys. They are also aware of Alt and Shift and perform well with serial and USB keyboards.

Features of Logkeys

• Fix Security
• Remote log uploading on HTTP
• USB Keyboard Recognization
• pgrep Dependency, Removed
• Process ID (PID) available in /var/run
• Fix Vulnerability
• Fixed CPU issue on X86_64
• Bug Fixes.

To Install Logkeys in Linux

On Debian based systems

$ sudo apt-get install build-essential

On RedHat based systems

[root@linuxhelp ~]# yum install gcc make gcc-c++
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, refresh-packagekit, security
Setting up Install Process
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: ftp.iitm.ac.in
* extras: ftp.iitm.ac.in
* updates: ftp.iitm.ac.in
Package 1:make-3.81-20.el6.x86_64 already installed and latest version
Resolving Dependencies
-->  Running transaction check
--->  Package gcc.x86_64 0:4.4.7-16.el6 will be installed
--->  Package gcc-c++.x86_64 0:4.4.7-16.el6 will be installed . . .
.
.
.
Installed:
gcc.x86_64 0:4.4.7-16.el6 gcc-c++.x86_64 0:4.4.7-16.el6
Complete!

Run ' wget' command to download and install the latest source.

[root@linuxhelp ~]# wget https://logkeys.googlecode.com/files/logkeys-0.1.1a.tar.gz
--2016-05-21 01:31:13-- https://logkeys.googlecode.com/files/logkeys-0.1.1a.tar.gz
Resolving logkeys.googlecode.com... 74.125.130.82, 2404:6800:4003:c01::52
Connecting to logkeys.googlecode.com|74.125.130.82|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 109568 (107K) [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: “ logkeys-0.1.1a.tar.gz” 
100%[===========================================================================> ] 109,568 346K/s in 0.3s
2016-05-21 01:31:14 (346 KB/s) - “ logkeys-0.1.1a.tar.gz”  saved [109568/109568]

Now extract the downloaded tar package by using the following command.

[root@linuxhelp ~]# tar xvzf
logkeys-0.1.1a.tar.gz
logkeys-0.1.1a/
logkeys-0.1.1a/Makefile.am
logkeys-0.1.1a/depcomp
logkeys-0.1.1a/build/.svn/tmp/text-base/ . . .
.
.
.
logkeys-0.1.1a/TODO

Go to the extracted directory and then execute the configure and make script.

[root@linuxhelp ~]# cd logkeys-0.1.1a
[root@linuxhelp logkeys-0.1.1a]# ./configure
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p .
.
.
.
config.status: creating scripts/Makefile
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: executing depfiles commands

[root@linuxhelp logkeys-0.1.1a]# make
make all-recursive make[1]: Entering directory `/root/logkeys-0.1.1a' 
Making all in src
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/logkeys-0.1.1a/src' 
g++ -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I.. -Wall -O3 -DSYS_CONF_DIR=" /usr/local/etc"  -MT logkeys.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/logkeys.Tpo -c -o logkeys.o logkeys.cc
.
.
.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/logkeys-0.1.1a' 

[root@linuxhelp logkeys-0.1.1a]# make install
Making install in src
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/logkeys-0.1.1a/src' 
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/logkeys-0.1.1a/src' 
.
.
.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/logkeys-0.1.1a' 
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/logkeys-0.1.1a' 

To Run the locale-gen

$ sudo locale-­ gen

Run the following command for detailed information of logkeys usages option.

[root@linuxhelp logkeys-0.1.1a]# logkeys --help
Usage: logkeys [OPTION]...
Log depressed keyboard keys.

  -s, --start               start logging keypresses
  -m, --keymap=FILE         use keymap FILE
  -o, --output=FILE         log output to FILE [/var/log/logkeys.log]
  -u, --us-keymap           use en_US keymap instead of configured default
  -k, --kill                kill running logkeys process
  -d, --device=FILE         input event device [eventX from /dev/input/]
  -?, --help                print this help screen
      --export-keymap=FILE  export configured keymap to FILE and exit
      --no-func-keys        log only character keys
      --no-timestamps       don' t prepend timestamps to log file lines
      --post-http=URL       POST log to URL as multipart/form-data file
      --post-size=SIZE      post log file when size equals SIZE [500k]

Examples: logkeys -s -m mylang.map -o ~/.secret-keys.log
          logkeys -s -d event6
          logkeys -k

logkeys version: 0.1.1a
logkeys homepage: < http://code.google.com/p/logkeys/> 

[root@linuxhelp logkeys-0.1.1a]# man logkeys

Use the following command, to start the application logkeys.

[root@linuxhelp logkeys-0.1.1a]# logkeys -s

Now it will execute a lot of commands.

To Terminate the process logkeys

[root@linuxhelp ~]# logkeys -k

Check the log file that is by default available in ‘ /var/log/logkeys.log‘ .

[root@linuxhelp ~]# vim /var/log/logkeys.log
Logging started ...

2016-05-21 01:34:19+0530 >  ls
2016-05-21 01:34:35+0530 >  < #+2> cd /mnaan
2016-05-21 01:34:44+0530 >  cd ..
2016-05-21 01:34:50+0530 >  ll
2016-05-21 01:34:55+0530 >  logkeys -k
2016-05-21 01:35:15+0530 > 

Logging stopped at 2016-05-21 01:35:15+0530