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What are Trojan horses? • A Trojan horse is full of as much trickery as the mythological Trojan horse it was named after. The Trojan horse, at first glance will appear to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your computer. Those on the receiving end of a Trojan horse are usually tricked into opening them because they appear to be receiving legitimate software or files from a legitimate source. 1
What are Trojan horses? • A Trojan Horse is an email virus usually released by an email attachment. A Trojan is a program that appears to be legitimate, but in fact does something malicious. Quite often, that something malicious involves gaining remote, surreptitious access to a user's system. Unlike viruses, a Trojan does not replicate itself as worms do. 2
How do Trojan horses work? • When a Trojan is activated on your computer, the results can vary. Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying than malicious (like changing your desktop, adding silly active desktop icons) or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system. 1
How do Trojan horses work? • Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate. 2
How can it damage your computer? • Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves, but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to get rid of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto the computer. 1
How can it damage your computer? • It looks like it might be harmless and useful but it will have a hidden code that can create great damage in your computer or install some spyware. The Trojan horse viruses infect PCs by being spread by other mechanisms, meaning that computer Trojans cannot materialize on their own. 2
How does it get on your computer? • Trojan may allow a hacker remote access to a target computer system. Once a Trojan has been installed on a target computer system, a hacker may have access to the computer remotely and perform various operations, limited by user privileges on the target computer system and the design of the Trojan. 1
How does it get on your computer? • Some Trojan horses are spyware and are used to track activity on your computer and then send this information to other parties without your consent or knowledge. One of the most common ways that the Trojan horse virus can be spread is via email, as the attacker will send victims emails with an attachment and once the victim opens the attachment the Trojan viruses are then able to infect their system. 2
How to avoid it • One way to avoid it is to back up all of your data and do a clean restore of your computer. If you've had unknown problems with remote access Trojans or surf the Internet without proper anti-virus software, doing this will give you a clean slate to start from and eradicate any malicious programs that may have been hiding in the background. • Never open any Unsolicited Emails even those sent by a friend. Any link on an Email could potentially house malware. • Never download or install any programs on to your computer unless you completely trust the publisher there are more than a few of them hiding Trojan horses. 1
How to avoid it • You can also install both anti-virus and anti-spyware software before browsing the Internet. Your Internet service provider may offer you free software and updates. Many companies also offer "lite" versions of their anti-virus programs that are not as thorough as the full versions but are much better than having no safeguard at all. • Have a firewall on your computer. This can help stop unsolicited connections to your computer which could stop the action of a Trojan Horse. • Run an up to date version of Anti-virus on your computer. These can scan any program for malicious programs such as Trojan Horses or others. 2
Vocab. • Trojan Horse(Greek Mythology) – During the Trojan war the Greeks presented Troy with a wooden horse as a sign of surrender but secretly it housed soldiers that once pulled inside the city willingly by citizens of Troy were able to open the gate for the rest of their army winning the war. • Trojan Horse (Computer Program) – A type of Malware that is similar to a computer virus except that it must be executed by the user where a virus does not. • Malware - meaning malicious software is any software meant to disrupt your computers function, destroy/gather sensitive information, or even give unauthorized access to your computer. 1
Vocab. • Hacker – The person that could be viewing all of the information on your computer, and does not even have to be the original Trojan horse creator. It can be anyone with a port scanner that knows how to access the malicious software. • Port Scanner - Software designed to scan or probe servers to find an open port. These ports are opened up when a Trojan Horse is executed and because the Trojan Horses carrying file does execute the intended program the Malware can go undetected. • Unsolicited – Given or sent with out being requested, basically any Emails you get that are not in reply to something you sent or are just a random Email with an attachment. 2
References • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computing) • http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Trojan-Horse-Viruses-Can-Infect-Your-Computer&id=285990 • http://www.pcsecurityalert.com/pcsecurityalert-articles/trojan-horse-virus.htm
