What is a troajn horse?

What is a trojan horse?

A Trojan horse, or trojan for short, is a term used to describe malware that appears, to the user, to perform a desirable function but, in fact, facilitates unauthorized access to the user's computer system. The term comes from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology. Trojan horses are not self-replicating which distinguishes them from viruses and worms. Additionally, they require interaction with a hacker to fulfill their purpose. 

Purpose of Trojan horses?

Trojan horses are designed to allow a hacker remote access to a target computer system. Once a Trojan horse has been installed on a target computer system it is possible for ahacker to access it remotely and perform various operations. The operations that a hacker can perform are limited by user privileges on the target computer system and the design of theTrojan horse.

type of trojan horse


1) Remote Access Trojans :- Abbreviated as RATs, a Remote Access Trojans are potentially the most damaging, designed to provide the attacker with complete control of the victim's system.


2) Data Sending Trojans :- A type of a Trojan horse that is designed to provide the attacker with sensitive data such as 
passwords, credit card information, log files, e-mail address or IM contact lists. They could install a keylogger and send all recorded keystrokes back to the attacker.


3) Destructive Trojans :- Once this Trojan is installed on your computer, it will begin to systematically or completely randomly delete information from your computer.This can include files, folders, registry entries, and important system files, which likely to cause the failure of your operating system.


4) Proxy Trojans :- A type of Trojan horse designed to use the victim's computer as a proxy server. This gives the attacker the opportunity to conduct illegal activities, or even to use your system to launch malicious attacks against other networks.


5) FTP Trojans :- A type of Trojan horse designed to open port 21 (FTP) and acts like an FTP server. Once installed, the attacker not only could download/upload files/programs to victim's computer but also install futher malware on your computer.


6) Security Software Disabler Trojan :- A type of Trojan horse designed stop or kill security programs such as an antivirus program or firewall without the user knowing. This Trojan type is normally combined with another type of Trojan as a payload.


7) DoS Attack Trojans :- These trojans are used by the attacker to launch a DoS/DDoS attack against some website or network or any individual.in this case they are well known as "Zombies".