Computer threats and Internet based risks are numerous, in fact they are increasing and evolving with each passing day. This enormity of technological risks demand quick action on the part of an average computer user, for nobody wants to handle an uninvited trouble. Trojans or Trojan Horses are a category of computer threats with the potential of having damaging effects on your computer.
Their name has been rightly inspired from a mythological story, according to which a huge wooden horse was gifted by Greeks to the city of troy. However, many Greek soldiers were hidden inside this wooden horse, who came out during the dark and took control over the entire city. Moreover, they opened the doors (which were originally difficult to access) of the city to the rest of their army, which helped them to sack the city. Similarly, in computers, Trojans are a type of malware which disguise as useful programs, but actually are harmful. In fact, they have the potential to expose your PC to further harm.
How do Trojans enter a computer system?
Trojans generally come as seemingly harmless, in fact useful programs. They affect your system when they get installed on it. They might come as an email attachment, a file sharing program or an instant messaging utility. They may appear to come as a photograph, a sound file, or a computer game. The individual at the receiving end is tricked to open these apparently worthy files to actually fall prey to a Trojan attack.
What kind of harm do they cause?
Trojan Horses cause varying levels of damage to your system. Some of them could be simply annoying, while others could be as fatal as having the potential to delete your most useful files or destroy your vital data. Other types of Trojan Horses are meant to leave backdoors onto your system, which may enable a remote user to have access to and control your PC. These backdoors may also open up your system to even more malicious software. Once a remote user gets control over your system, he/she may control all hardware and software resources of your PC, or even install other unintended applications on it. This way, they can steal away your critical information and spy on you.
Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans are non self-replicating and do not infect other programs and files.
Their name has been rightly inspired from a mythological story, according to which a huge wooden horse was gifted by Greeks to the city of troy. However, many Greek soldiers were hidden inside this wooden horse, who came out during the dark and took control over the entire city. Moreover, they opened the doors (which were originally difficult to access) of the city to the rest of their army, which helped them to sack the city. Similarly, in computers, Trojans are a type of malware which disguise as useful programs, but actually are harmful. In fact, they have the potential to expose your PC to further harm.
How do Trojans enter a computer system?
Trojans generally come as seemingly harmless, in fact useful programs. They affect your system when they get installed on it. They might come as an email attachment, a file sharing program or an instant messaging utility. They may appear to come as a photograph, a sound file, or a computer game. The individual at the receiving end is tricked to open these apparently worthy files to actually fall prey to a Trojan attack.
What kind of harm do they cause?
Trojan Horses cause varying levels of damage to your system. Some of them could be simply annoying, while others could be as fatal as having the potential to delete your most useful files or destroy your vital data. Other types of Trojan Horses are meant to leave backdoors onto your system, which may enable a remote user to have access to and control your PC. These backdoors may also open up your system to even more malicious software. Once a remote user gets control over your system, he/she may control all hardware and software resources of your PC, or even install other unintended applications on it. This way, they can steal away your critical information and spy on you.
Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans are non self-replicating and do not infect other programs and files.
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