HP scrambles to fix dangerous ‘keylogging’ code in 500 computer models

Keylogging software could record everything you type on your device. HP has appealed to its users to install the update on their devices at the earliest.

HP releases patch to stop keyboard-tracking bug (iStockphoto)

If you are using a HP laptop and haven't updated your device in a while, you need to act soon. The PC company has released an update to remove keylogging software that was accidentally installed on nearly 500 computer models. These laptops were released with software that can track every key stroke.

The patch will plug the security flaw in select laptops sold within the last five years, including G2 Notebooks, EliteBooks, EliteBook Folios and ProBooks, Evening Standard reported.

The company has asked the owners of HP computers to install it as soon as possible.

The issue was discovered by Michael Myng, who discovered a deactivated keylogger in software on over 460 models of HP laptop, the report added.

After Myng raised the issue with the company, HP acted "terrificly fast" and said that the keylogger was erroneously present as a "debug trace".

The keylogger feature is deactivated in the default setting but an attacker with physical access to the computer could easily turn it on, the report pointed out.