What are the Characteristics of a Trojan Malware?

May 6, 2022
What are the Characteristics of a Trojan Malware?

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Trojans are malicious software installed on a computer without the user’s knowledge or a prompt for permission.

As explained by Transmit Security (https://www.transmitsecurity.com/passwordless), the software is usually installed from an email attachment, a website, or a document that has been infected by a Trojan.

Lately, the use of Trojans has become more prevalent in the IT world.
According to a survey conducted by Norton, more than 3.1 million users in the United States have been affected by Trojans.

Read on to learn what a Trojan is, how it is being used, and how it can affect your computer.

How do Trojans work?

Trojans, otherwise known as Trojan horses, can come in two forms—malware and not.

The former is generally associated with malicious intent, while users fall victim to the latter through carelessness or simply being unaware that their computer has been infected.

Trojans may look like other files on your computer to help them blend in, which means you could accidentally download one when visiting a website. Once it’s downloaded, it looks for data to steal from your computer.

A typical example of a Trojan virus is CryptoLocker, which encrypts all of your data until you pay a ransom fee; another version called CryptoDefense will delete all of your data if you don’t pay up within 72 hours.

Some Trojans will even record what’s happening on your screen so they can send sensitive information back to their creator.

Examples of Trojan Horse

A common way for a Trojan to infect your computer is through fake websites and advertisements that ask you to download software updates, drivers, or media players. Below are examples of the trojan horse virus and what they do;

  1. 7DDoS allows hackers to send vast traffic to the victim’s website, causing downtime.
  2. I-Worms – It spreads by exploiting vulnerabilities in the victim’s system such as remote execution exploits and spreading without user intervention such as botnets, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, USB drives, etc.
  3. Logic Bombs executes particular instructions when specific conditions are met. Ransomware – It encrypts files or locks access to computer systems until a ransom is paid.
  4. Rootkits – A rootkit is software that enables an intruder to gain administrative control over a computer system without authorization so that they can install other software or steal data.

Effect of Trojan horse on computer

Once it infects your computer, Trojan can do whatever it wants. Its sole purpose is to cause harm and damage.

It can corrupt or delete your files or use your PC as part of a botnet network. It can turn on your webcam and record you as you browse online.

Below are the effects of the Trojan Horse Virus;

  1. It can steal your personal information such as credit card details, bank account details, passwords, and other sensitive information. It can also send emails to everyone on your contact list from your email address.
  2. It can download and install other malicious programs to your computer, such as worms, keyloggers, rootkits, etc. These programs can steal information from your computer or use it for other illegal activities.
  3. It can download pornography and display it on your screen without you knowing about it. It can also make obscene phone calls to random numbers from your PC without you knowing about it.
  4. It can use your computer to send out spam emails or launch denial-of-service attacks on other computers. It can also host illegal websites and download child pornography and other illegal content.
  5. It can change your homepage, default search engine, and new tab page without you knowing about it.

How to remove Trojan Horse Virus

This is how the trojan horse virus is removed; you should scan your system with antivirus software, and then you can remove it manually by deleting all its files in different locations on your hard drive.

To ensure that you have removed every trace of trojan horse from your system, you should scan again after a few days.

You can also use anti-spyware programs to prevent further infection by viruses.

So, what are the characteristics of a Trojan malware?

A Trojan is any malicious software that is hidden and can be used to affect other systems or cause damage.

For something to be considered a Trojan, it must have specific features. The most important thing about Trojans is that they can conceal themselves from antivirus programs.

The first step in protecting your computer from Trojans is to make sure you have an updated antivirus program on your computer.

This will ensure that you’re protected against all known viruses and Trojans, but there may still be unknown threats that could slip through undetected.

Thomas Lambert
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