Chapter 1. I Can Hear You Typing

Where we investigate how your keystrokes can be monitored from far, far away

From the moment you press the first key on your keyboard, the information you are sending begins a long journey through the virtual world. Microseconds before packets speed through fiber-optic links and bounce off satellite transceivers, a piece of information goes a long way through an amazing maze of circuits. Prior to your keystrokes being received by the operating system and any applications it might be running, many precise and subtle low-level mechanisms are engaged in a process that is of interest to all sorts of hackers and has proven to be of significance to the security crowd as well. The path to user land has many surprises ...

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