admin TROJAN HORSE
– BY MARIYAM CHOWDHARY
“Malware” is short for “malicious software” – computer programs that is designed to infiltrate and damage computers without the consent of the users. “Malware” is the general term covering all the different types of threats to your computer safety such as viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, rootkits and so on.
Different types of malware
The term malware includes viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, rootkits, spyware, keyloggers and more.
Viruses and worms – the contagious threat.
Viruses and worms are defined by their behavior – malicious software designed to spread without the user’s knowledge.
Trojans and Rootkits – the masked threat.
Trojans and rootkits are grouped together as they both seek to conceal attacks on computers. Trojan Horses are malignant pieces of software pretending to be benign applications.
Spyware and keyloggers – the financial threat
Spyware and keyloggers are malware used in malicious attacks for example- identity theft, phishing and social engineering – threats designed to steal money from unknowing computer users, businesses and banks.
A Trojan horse or Trojan is a type of malware that is often disguised as legitimate software. Trojans can be employed by cyber-thieves, cyber criminals and hackers trying to gain access to the users’ systems. Users are typically duped by some form of social engineering into loading and executing Trojans on their systems. Once activated, Trojans can enable cyber-criminals to spy on you, steal your sensitive data, and gain backdoor access to your system. These actions can include:
• Deleting data
• Blocking data
• Modifying data
• Copying data
• Disrupting the performance of computers or computer networks
Notable examples
Private and governmental
• DarkComet – CIA / NSA
• FinFisher – Lench IT solutions / Gamma International
• DaVinci / Galileo RCS – Hacking Team
• 0zapftis / r2d2 StaatsTrojaner – Digi Task
• TAO QUANTUM/FOXACID – NSA
• Magic Lantern – FBI
• WARRIOR PRIDE – GCHQ
Detected by security researchers
• Twelve Tricks – 1990
• Clickbot.A – 2006 (discovered)
• Zeus – 2007 (discovered)
• Flashback trojan – 2011 (discovered)
• ZeroAccess – 2011 (discovered)
• Koobface – 2008 (discovered)
• Vundo – 2009 (discovered)
• Meredrop – 2010 (discovered)
• Coreflood – 2010 (discovered)
• Tiny Banker Trojan – 2012 (discovered)
• Shedun Android malware – 2015 (discovered)[22
How to protect yourself against Trojans
By installing effective anti-malware software, you can defend your devices – including PCs, laptops, Macs, tablets and smartphones – against Trojans. A rigorous anti-malware solution – such as Kaspersky Anti-Virus – will detect and prevent Trojan attacks on your PC, while Kaspersky Mobile Security can deliver world-class virus protection for Android smartphones.
1. Buy legitimate software, and register it.
Only versions of Windows that were bought from a licensed retailer and registered with Microsoft could receive the software upgrade.
2. Make sure your software is up to date.
Set your system to automatically download and install updates from trusted software providers.
3. Don’t click on links or open attachments from email addresses you don’t know.
One of the biggest sources of malware is fraudulent emails, called spam; seeking info from you via spam is called phishing. Delete unsolicited emails from unfamiliar people or companies no matter how friendly they appear.
4. Instantly leave websites you’ve been routed to without your consent.
And when on the site, don’t click on anything; doing so could trigger a malware download to your PC.
5. Have a pop-up blocker running on your web browser.
That keeps potentially dangerous ads from appearing on your screen. Google Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge include pop-up blockers.
6. Use a reputable antivirus program, and always keep it updated.
Major antivirus vendors released updates to protect their users.
7. Regularly back up your important files to an external drive or a remote storage service.
The easiest way to recover from any malware attack is to restore a recent backup of your data.
8. Avoid pirated software – you may think that it might be worthwhile getting a copy of some software, particularly if you aren’t going to use it very frequently, but pirated software often comes with viruses embedded.
Great article and the information provided in the article is correct and seems every sub topic have up to point material.
Follow the safety points from the Trojan horse in the article mentioned.Good Article
Easy to Understand
Important information about how to protect our data from unauthorized access which can take place through different ways.
Very useful information I have got from this article ..I hadn’t knew about Trojans horse malware before this ..
This article provided very useful information. Every point was meticulously explained.
A really informative article. Moreover it was presented in a simple way resulting for a better understanding.
a really good article with very important information. The article is submitted in a very systematic way that’s why it is easy to understand . The information provided in this article is very useful for everyone.
The best part of this is how easy is to get this information in one’s head.
wonderful classification of everything by the author.
The author has inculcated all the major aspects related to Trojan malware concisely. However to make it more clear to the readers, it would have been better to include an example on how Trojan works. For instance, you click and download a file attached in an email which you think is from someone you know but is actually from a cyber criminal and as a result the malware gets installed on your devise.
In addition, Trojan are not only a threat on computer devices, it is increasingly becoming a threat on mobile devices through fake versions of apps.
The ways to get protected from Trojan are briefly written and is informative and helpful for the readers.
Trojan horse is a young topic for me and as a beginner I can say it is incredibly easy to understand with a quality content.
It is an amazing article that provide me more information about Trojan Horse. It gave me more knowledge regarding Trojan Malware. Well done
Virus is the biggest threat to our electronic devices. This article covers the ways to prevent viruses from the devices… interesting!!
Though informative, the article lacked the use of examples and personal opinions on the article. As a reader, I highly value personal views of the author. I also feel that the format of the article is similar to the way articles on wikipedia and google are presented.
The article explained the meaning of Trojan in a good way. However, the way in which examples are presented is not upto the mark. It is appreciable that the article contains good tips.
No doubt it is a very well written article but it would have been more good if more examples were used to explain. But overall it is informative. Good work done.
Nicely interpreted article explained it in a good detailed way.
It is a great article and is well written. It explains each sub topic in a very easy way and detailed way. All the necessary information is provided.
The article is very cohesive regarding the facts and was really easy to follow. It provided well-rounded facts about the subject that people discount a lot. Thank you!
great informative article.
Amazing article covering all the topics and sub topics in a very simple and detailed way however the examples weren’t upto the mark rest it is a good article.Well tried
Easy to Understand and great informative article.
Nice article very well explaining different type of malware- trojan horse.
trojan was a new word to hear but we all have experienced it when you open a web link and the sit redirects it to some other site, which you would never open in your right senses. Thats also a possibility of how a trojan can be placed into your PC.