In November,Interracial | Adult Movies Online a computer programmer spotted some strange code while trying to control a backlit keyboard on a Hewlett-Packard laptop.
It was a keylogger -- which if turned on by a hacker is capable of monitoring every keystroke you type and save this activity to a file. It's a common hacking technique used to steal passwords, as Google recently noted in its year-long study on computer security.
SEE ALSO: Florida man hacked Uber in 2016In this case, the code was not turned on, but TechCrunch nonetheless reported on programmer Michael Myng's blog post about finding the deactivated keylogger. In his memo, Myng wrote that he notified HP of the presence of the keylogger's presence.
So, I messaged HP about the finding. They replied terrificly fast, confirmed the presence of the keylogger (which actually was a debug trace) and released an update that removes the trace.
Myng calls this piece of code a "debug trace," a tool commonly used by software companies to "trace" a problem or bug, suggesting this code wasn't put there with any malicious intent -- either by HP or anyone else.
For HP users that want to rid their computers of this keylogger -- should a hacker gain physical access to their computer and turn it on -- HP's fix (issued on Nov. 7) can be found on their site here, along with an extremely long list of affected models.
In their fix, HP notes that a "potential security vulnerability has been identified" and HP has no "access to customer data as a result of this issue."
Mashable contacted HP for comment and will update this post upon hearing back.
Topics Cybersecurity HP
(Editor: {typename type="name"/})
SpaceX's BFR has a new name. Elon Musk is calling it Starship.
Marvel fans are baffled by new editor
MacOS High Sierra vulnerability publicly disclosed weeks ago
An extreme weather pattern is about to envelop the Northern Hemisphere
Why Building a Gaming PC Right Now is a Bad Idea, Part 3: Bad Timing
Evan Spiegel defends algorithms, criticizes Facebook in a new op
Watch the moment Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb broke the news of Matt Lauer's firing
Tom Holland shared a top secret 'Infinity War' poster and his reaction is priceless
SpaceX's BFR has a new name. Elon Musk is calling it Starship.
WhatsApp gets improved YouTube integration
Amazon Spring Sale 2025: Best Apple AirPods 4 with ANC deal
'Revenge porn' bill would make sextortion a federal crime
接受PR>=1、BR>=1,流量相当,内容相关类链接。