By Paul Wilcox
You’re probably familiar with the Trojan horse tale. When the city of Troy was captured the Greeks put a huge wooden horse on the outside of the gates as a peace offering. The horse was brought into the city walls at which time it was discovered that it was filled with Greek soldiers who very quickly destroyed Troy.
A Trojan horse in your computer is much the same thing. It looks like it might be harmless and useful but it will have a hidden code that can create great damage in your computer or install some spyware.
A Trojan horse is also known as a virus but is slightly different. A virus can’t copy itself and is only created to get into your computer and cause problems, much like the Greek soldiers did to Troy.
Some Trojan horses are spyware and are used to track activity on your computer and then send this information to other parties without your consent or knowledge.
Spyware can also be used to generate pop-up ads, reroute your Internet browser to consumer sites, or log into the private information on your computer, such as your credit card numbers. Vendors on consumer sites have often paid the creator of spyware to get this information from you.
A Trojan horse can also be used to install what is called a “backdoor” in your computer. A backdoor is a way into your computer without the usual login procedure. Many hackers use a backdoor to get into your computer so that they can send spam or to cause other damage. The damage will appear to originate in your comptuter.
Computer geeks think that there is a distinction between a hacker and a cracker. A cracker will get into your computer to do harm while a hacker will just get into your computer in order to understand how the system works. Let’s stick with the term hacker.
How Trojans Are Sent
A Trojan horse can be hidden in useful programs. For example, you might download a free utility from a website and then run the program. This is how easily your system can be infected.
Trojan horses can also b!
e includ
ed in an email attachment if the attachment has a file that is executable. This program can hold a Trojan which can then cause damage to your computer when it’s run.
Sometimes the extensions of executable files (which are .exe) can be altered so that the file looks like it is harmless text. For example a file named computer.exe can be altered to look like computer.txt.exe so that it looks like a text file that you open without hesitation. There are some OS that let you hide extensions so beware of this.
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Newer methods hide Trojans in image files. Keep in mind that you should never open any file that comes from someone you don’t know or when you’re not expecting a file. Viruses are easily passed on this way.
Some Trojans can be passed along in the vulnerabilities of your OS. It’s the OS that controls your computer’s basic functions. Your computer is connected to the Internet through ports. These ports can be a risk to security. Malware is one way that your computer’s vulnerabilities can be tested.
Sub7 is a famous Trojan. Some people say that the Sub7 has some good uses, such as being able to remotely have control over your computer. Your computer can have the Sub7 installed on it and you can access it from a remote location. However, hackers can use this function to steal your credit card numbers.
Fighting Trojans - The modern way
Antivirus software can detect and get rid of Trojans. Make sure that you keep your virus software up to date so that you have good protection. There are some antivirus programs that make you manually scan over your attachments as well as other files that are incoming. You’ll want one that does this automatically since the cost difference is slight.
Be careful when you open any email attachments even if you’re getting them from a source you know. Be suspicious if it’s an attachment that you’re not expecting.
Use your firewall and keep it closed to limit vulnerabilities to your computer.
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