Counterintelligence: How to Travel Invisibly

The most difficult question I've had to answer before I leave on my year-long trip around the world is whether or not to take my laptop. After much soul searching and planning, I decided to leave it at home. I'll take some other technology, but no computer. So how will I keep everyone updated, you ask? How will I get pictures off my camera? How will Ryan survive without instant technology everywhere? The answer is Internet Cafe's.

The danger of using an Internet Cafe is that I don't know who will be watching. Since it's someone else's computer, there could be software installed to record everything I do, including passwords for my banking sites, email and every other private piece of information. If this gets out, it could mean a very early end to my trip (as well as ruined credit and abject poverty).

Enter: MojoPac. This is a program which essentially lets you turn any computer into your own computer. I'm taking an external hard drive on my trip. Once I plug it in to the potentially compromised Internet Cafe computer, the MojoPac login box appears. Once I log in to MojoPac then not only do I have all my programs, pictures, and iTunes library with me, I also have a big black wall between what I do and the program meant to watch me. MojoPac isolates everything done in the MojoPac environment from the host OS (the infected Windows computer). It basically bypasses any surveillance software and goes straight to the Internet or other place without ever touching the host OS. So keyloggers (spyware) see nothing. If they're taking screen shots, they get a picture of a black screen--even if I'm logged in to my bank account in MojoPac.

In case you're keeping score or into these kind of details, I have tested MojoPac against the following keyloggers: Advanced Invisible Keylogger v.1.9, All in One Keylogger v.2.42, Ardamax Keylogger v.2.6, Dark Keylogger, Ghost Keylogger v.3.80 and Golden Eye v.4.50. It defeated them all.

While MojoPac may isolate you from existing keyloggers, if you'd rather get rid of them in the first place, Dewasoft's KL-Detector will help you find them--or at least confirm the presence of a software keylogger. KL-Detector is also free, unlike MojoPac. But neither of these programs will help with hardware keyloggers or people looking over your shoulder. So while this software is pretty handy, there's no substitute for an old fashioned glance over your shoulder.

Happy covert computing.