Trojan Horses

The term trojan horse obviously comes from the- Key logging, this is when the attacker can log ever
tale in the trojan war of the giant horse. Howeverkey you have pressed. This can of course be
we are talking about something completely differentdevastating if you use online banking as all your
here.passwords will be seen.
A trojan horse (usually just referred to as a trojan) is- Viewing exactly what what you are doing. Which
a non-replicating malware that can execute a bit ofsites, who you email etc.
code, potentially allowing a hacker access to yourTrojans can of course perform many other tasks!
system. Once the hacker has gained access it isAnd is dependent on the attackers skills and
down to the individual account permissions to exactlyintentions. Trojans are usually obtained by one of
what actions he can perform. For example if hethree ways:
gained access to a standard user account he could- Website code
not do as much damage as if he had access to the- Emails
administrators account and had full access. This of- Bad software downloads
course is why it is always important on newIt is always better to prevent a trojan from ever
computers to make an administrators password andentering your system as once the attacker has
have it as a separate account.gained access, even if you remove the threat you
Some uses a trojan horse could have are:will have no idea what damage the attacker has
- Use of the machine as a bot net. This could meandone.
the attacker will use your computer, and manyTrojans can be detected and remove by most good
others infected to overload a server and say takeantivirus programs. Make sure you always have it
down a website.fully updated! There are a number of tools also
- Freezing/crashing the computer.available that can aid you in the prevention of
- Deleting or modifying important or personal files.infection. Some of the best ones been WOT (Web
- Installing other malware, viruses, spyware, adwareof Trust) and PeerBlock.
etc.