Today, nearly ten thousands of people and counting are keep talking about this news. HP,
the PC manufacturing Company received serious of attack from those guys. This is because, HP was found to have included an inbuilt keylogger that will automatically collect all your key pressings and is storing on a plain text. The Process that helped to make that job done is none other than the Audio driver (Conexant HD Audio Driver Package with a version 1.0.0.46 or more).
This collects all your keypress and they are stored in C:\users\public\MicTray.log .
Though HP now, Officially says, that it had released an patch for this, its safe to delete
before the entire patch reaches your PC. This is because when i inspected, those files are stored on plain text, which means, it can accessed by anyone who knows this location C:\users\public\MicTray.log to breach your Privacy.
What are the affected Models ...?
The following models are found to be affected by this keylogger, but there are more number of models that are infected apart from the following models..
HP EliteBook 820 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 828 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 840 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 848 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 850 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 640 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 650 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 645 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 655 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 450 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 430 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 440 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 446 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 470 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 455 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 725 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 745 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 755 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 1030 G1 Notebook PC
HP ZBook 15u G3 Mobile Workstation
HP Elite x2 1012 G1 Tablet
HP Elite x2 1012 G1 with Travel Keyboard
HP Elite x2 1012 G1 Advanced Keyboard
HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G3 Notebook PC
HP ZBook 17 G3 Mobile Workstation
HP ZBook 15 G3 Mobile Workstation
HP ZBook Studio G3 Mobile Workstation
HP EliteBook Folio G1 Notebook PC
My PC was not on this list, but it contained those files, so it is worth checking your PC to prevent
damages.
How to check for HP inbuilt keylogger on Windows PC.
1) Open file explorer and simply Copy paste C:\users\public\MicTray.log on the address bar and
2) Hit enter.
If any file, gets opened in Notepad or your default text editor, then it means, your system too have
that inbuilt keylogger that recordes all your key pressings time after time.
How to delete the C:\users\public\MicTray.log File..
1) Press Ctrl and Shift and Esc Keys all together
2) You will get taskmanager, on that scroll down and right click on Mic tray icon
3) Select End Task
Now, visit C:\users\public, Click on the MicTray file and Press Shift + Del Keys together
That's it..
This will completely delete all your keystrokes stored there..
Deleting that file, will delete all your recorded Keystorkes, But a user asked how to prevent it from recording again, i searched Online for help, and a solution, A friend from reddit named
My_Angry_Account_ had shared the steps for these.., Special thanks to him..
The steps we use since long ago, to disable the task manager, registry,etc are altered to be used in this process.
Warning : The following involves registry editing, try at your own risk.
Press Windows (logo) and R Keys of your keyboard
Type regedit and hit enter key.
Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
Right click on the Image File Execution Options and select New -> Key
Give the name for this key as MicTray.exe
Now, your right click on the newly created key and select new-> String Value
Name the value as debugger
Now, double click or single click on that, it will open a pop up on the value data field
Simply, type devenv /debugexe
Hit enter to save it..
That's it..
Now, your PC have that keylogger disabled.
Enjoy.
Other posts..
This Website will unlock your user account, When you dance!
How to recover from Google Docs attack happened on 03 May 2017
the PC manufacturing Company received serious of attack from those guys. This is because, HP was found to have included an inbuilt keylogger that will automatically collect all your key pressings and is storing on a plain text. The Process that helped to make that job done is none other than the Audio driver (Conexant HD Audio Driver Package with a version 1.0.0.46 or more).
This collects all your keypress and they are stored in C:\users\public\MicTray.log .
Though HP now, Officially says, that it had released an patch for this, its safe to delete
before the entire patch reaches your PC. This is because when i inspected, those files are stored on plain text, which means, it can accessed by anyone who knows this location C:\users\public\MicTray.log to breach your Privacy.
What are the affected Models ...?
The following models are found to be affected by this keylogger, but there are more number of models that are infected apart from the following models..
HP EliteBook 820 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 828 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 840 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 848 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 850 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 640 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 650 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 645 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 655 G2 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 450 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 430 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 440 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 446 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 470 G3 Notebook PC
HP ProBook 455 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 725 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 745 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 755 G3 Notebook PC
HP EliteBook 1030 G1 Notebook PC
HP ZBook 15u G3 Mobile Workstation
HP Elite x2 1012 G1 Tablet
HP Elite x2 1012 G1 with Travel Keyboard
HP Elite x2 1012 G1 Advanced Keyboard
HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G3 Notebook PC
HP ZBook 17 G3 Mobile Workstation
HP ZBook 15 G3 Mobile Workstation
HP ZBook Studio G3 Mobile Workstation
HP EliteBook Folio G1 Notebook PC
My PC was not on this list, but it contained those files, so it is worth checking your PC to prevent
damages.
How to check for HP inbuilt keylogger on Windows PC.
1) Open file explorer and simply Copy paste C:\users\public\MicTray.log on the address bar and
2) Hit enter.
If any file, gets opened in Notepad or your default text editor, then it means, your system too have
that inbuilt keylogger that recordes all your key pressings time after time.
How to delete the C:\users\public\MicTray.log File..
1) Press Ctrl and Shift and Esc Keys all together
2) You will get taskmanager, on that scroll down and right click on Mic tray icon
3) Select End Task
Now, visit C:\users\public, Click on the MicTray file and Press Shift + Del Keys together
That's it..
This will completely delete all your keystrokes stored there..
How to disable HP's inbuilt MicTray keylogger
Deleting that file, will delete all your recorded Keystorkes, But a user asked how to prevent it from recording again, i searched Online for help, and a solution, A friend from reddit named
My_Angry_Account_ had shared the steps for these.., Special thanks to him..
The steps we use since long ago, to disable the task manager, registry,etc are altered to be used in this process.
Warning : The following involves registry editing, try at your own risk.
Press Windows (logo) and R Keys of your keyboard
Type regedit and hit enter key.
Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
Right click on the Image File Execution Options and select New -> Key
Give the name for this key as MicTray.exe
Now, your right click on the newly created key and select new-> String Value
Name the value as debugger
Now, double click or single click on that, it will open a pop up on the value data field
Simply, type devenv /debugexe
Hit enter to save it..
That's it..
Now, your PC have that keylogger disabled.
Enjoy.
Other posts..
This Website will unlock your user account, When you dance!
How to recover from Google Docs attack happened on 03 May 2017
