Definition of Trojan Horse Computer Virus
The "Trojan horse" computer virus is a reference to the classic legend about how the Greeks won the Trojan War: by giving a hollowed-out statue of a horse to the Trojans as a "gift." That night, Greeks hidden in the statue opened the city gates, and warriors waiting outside overcame the city's defenses. A Trojan horse virus operates in the same way: by fooling you into installing it willingly.
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Definition
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A Trojan horse virus looks like a legitimate software program. Unlike traditional viruses that require the hacker to find and exploit a vulnerability on the target computer, a Trojan horse virus is installed willingly by the victim because they believe the software will provide some benefit. The virus infects the computer upon installation of the software. Trojan horse viruses are often difficult to detect without anti-virus software, because the vector for the virus appears to serve a real purpose and benefit the user.
Identification
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It is difficult to identify a Trojan horse infection without anti-virus software. Some Trojan horse viruses propagate themselves by using your email and instant messenger accounts to send messages attempting to convince friends to download the infected software as well. If one of your friends asks you why they received a message typed in an unusual style or asks why you are trying to get them to download strange software, your computer may be infected. You may also see a high level of network activity on an infected computer when using a network monitor such as the one found in the Windows Task Manager. A Trojan horse virus can cause several types of abnormal behavior on a computer including crashes and error messages, unexplained hard drive activity and slowdowns.
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Effects
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Trojan horse viruses are some of the most common malicious software programs on the Internet, and they have a large variety of payloads. A Trojan horse virus may create an open security hole on your computer, allowing an attacker to use your computer as a conduit for illegal activity. Trojan horse viruses may also contain "keyloggers" which monitor the keys pressed on your keyboard to steal bank account passwords. Some Trojan horse viruses may simply damage the files on the infected computer to render it inoperable. A Trojan horse infection can cause damage to your finances, your computer and other people.
Examples
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"Free" software on the Internet is the most common vector for Trojan horse viruses. Ironically, Trojan horse infections often begin when the victim installs software that claims to remove Trojan horse and other virus infections from the computer. If you see a pop-up advertisement while browsing the Web claiming that your computer is infected and that you need to install software to fix it, close the window immediately as installing the software may cause an infection. Trojan horse viruses are also commonly contained within pirated games and software distributed via illegal means.
Prevention/Solution
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Avoid downloading and installing free software that you find on the Internet unless it is tested and reviewed by an independent authority. The fact that a software program might have its own website does not make it legitimate, nor does a friend's recommendation. Anyone can create a website, and a virus can hijack an instant messaging account. Do not download illegally copied software, and have a trusted anti-virus program installed and running on your computer at all times. Although it is possible to remove some types of Trojan horse infections manually, anti-virus software is the only way to detect and remove most types of infections.
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References
Resources
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