Mouse Jigglers – A blessing or a curse?

Have you heard of mouse jigglers or mouse movers? They’ve become all the range since work from home has become more mainstream.

 

Back in my FBI days, we used mouse jigglers when we were on a search or at a crime scene to stop the computer from locking or going to sleep. If we didn’t have a mouse jiggler then the newest person would have to sit there and babysit the computer, constantly moving the mouse around to make sure we didn’t lose access to that computer, but I digress…

 

Today, people are using mouse jigglers to make sure they always appear active and don’t go to an away status on their computer while working remotely. They say it’s in the name of being paranoid about getting fired for being away from their desk too long to go to the bathroom or eat lunch. Yeah, let’s stick with that version of the story…

 

Now, before you jump on the Internet and start looking for your own mouse jiggler there is a dark side to all of this (besides your employer blocking them from working). There are bad mouse jigglers out there, and by bad I mean mouse jigglers that give hackers just the back door they’re looking for.

 

How could a hacker use a mouse jiggler for evil?

• You plug in the mouse jiggler, and you get a pop up to install software. You install it, but… did you ever think… Do you trust the manufacturer? Do you know what else is being installed with that jiggling software? This is the perfect opportunity for hackers to put a little malicious program on your computer that could give them a back door and send them all your keystrokes.
• What about mouse jiggling apps and software? That’s even worse because there’s lots of questionable places on their internet to download this stuff. The odds are even greater that you’ll just an unpleasant surprise when you install that software.

 

So if you’re paranoid about taking too long in the bathroom, I guess you’ll just have to take a page out of Homer Simpson’s book.