Abstract: Keylogging, one of the harmful malware, is the activity of recording the keys struck on a keyboard such that the person using the keyboard is unknown about the fact that their actions are being observed. It has authentic use in investigation of human-computer interaction and is considered as the main threat for business and personal activities. It can be used to intercept passwords and other confidential information entered via the keyboard. Hence, prevention of keylogging is important and strict authentication is required for it. Designing of secure authentication protocols is quite challenging, considering that various kinds of root kits reside in Personal Computers to observe user’s behaviour. There are various keylogging techniques, extending from hardware and software based methodologies to acoustic examination. Human involvement in authentication protocols, though guaranteeing, is not simple. This paper reviews various research areas which cover protocol authentications used securely preventing the visualization of keylogging attacks.

Keywords: Keylogging; Authentication; Protocol; Acoustic examination; Visualization.