What Does a Trojan Horse Virus Do?

A Trojan virus is dangerous to your computer or electronic device. Once embedded into a device, it can wreak havoc on the operating system. Named after the infamous Trojan horse story, the virus secretly hides inside a program or system, and depending on the function of the virus, it will release itself expectantly. Trojan viruses serve many purposes from stealing memory to obtaining personal information.

Hacker Control

There are some Trojan viruses that allow their makers to hack into other people's computers and use them for their needs.

Anti-Virus Viruses

A strand of Trojan virus can spread to your anti-virus program and disable its functionality or delete it altogether.

Privacy Infiltration

Trojan viruses can hide in registered software programs and steal private information. This can result in identity theft.

Denial of Service

A popular Trojan virus causes users denial of their own Internet services. Along with that goes every application that is contingent upon using the Internet.

System Wipes

Trojan viruses can wipe operating systems clean. They embed into the systems, and when they are released, they delete all of a computer's applications.