| In
the context of computer software, a Trojan
horse or Trojan is a malicious program that
is disguised as legitimate software. The
term is derived from the classical myth
of the Trojan horse. In the siege of Troy,
the Greeks left a large wooden horse outside
the city. The Trojans were convinced that
it was a gift, and moved the horse to a
place within the city walls. It turned out
that the horse was hollow, containing Greek
soldiers who opened the city gates of Troy
at night, making it possible for the Greek
army to pillage the city. Trojan horse programs
work in a similar way: they may look useful
or interesting to an unsuspecting user,
but are actually harmful when executed.
Trojan
horse programs cannot replicate themselves,
in contrast to some other types of malware,
like viruses or worms. A trojan horse can
be deliberately attached to otherwise useful
software by a programmer, or it can be spread
by tricking users into believing that it
is a useful program.
Trojan horses can be designed to
do various harmful things. Examples are
•
erasing
or overwriting data on a computer
•
corrupting
files in a subtle way
•
spreading
other malware, such as viruses. In this
case the Trojan is called a 'dropper'.
•
setting
up networks of zombie computers in order
to launch DDoS attacks or send spam.
•
spying
on the user of a computer and covertly reporting
data like browsing habits to other people
(see the article on spyware)
•
phish
for bank or other account details, which
can be used for criminal activities.
•
installing
a backdoor on a computer system.
A
number of spyware
remover applications are available to
help computer users search for and remove
trojan horse's from their pc.
Additional Definitions:
Adware
Browser
Hijacker
Browser Plugin
Dialer
Malware
Scumware
Spyware
Theifware
Trojan Horse
Virus
Worm
This
article is licensed under the GFDL.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "trojan horse"
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