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What is a trojan horse?
A Trojan horse is a piece of malware or virus that an attacker will attempt to install on a device for malicious purposes. The name comes from the story of the invasion of Troy, where the invaders built a giant horse and hid soldiers inside it. The city of Troy thought the giant horse was a gift so accepted it into the city, not realising enemy soldiers were hiding inside.
Trojan horse malware works in the same way, a Trojan horse is any malware that misleads users of its true intent. It attempts to appear as a legitimate file such as an attachment on an email or a free piece of software online in the hope that the target will download it. Once they download what they thought was a legitimate file the malware or virus will be installed on their device.
One of the most common types of Trojan is a backdoor trojan. Once the target has downloaded the file created by the attacker, the malware installs a back door onto the device. This allows it to be remotely monitored by the attacker who can steal data and confidential information from your device. This can then be used to access various accounts or steal the victims identity.
Ransomware Trojans are also common, once the victim has downloaded what they thought was a legitimate file and the malware has been installed on the device. it will block access to things such as your documents on the device until a ransom is paid to the attacker. They may threaten to leak or delete data on your device until you've paid them. Here is a screenshot of what it might look like if a ransomware trojan has been installed on your device. The attacker will often request payment in crypto to make it harder to trace them.
So now we understand what Trojan horse malware is, how do we protect ourselves from it?
The easiest way to protect yourself from Trojan malware is to only download apps and software from official sources such as your devices official app store. The official app store for your device will contain software that has been verified by the company owning that app store. This makes it incredibly hard for an attacker to have a Trojan horse published here.
The next easiest weary to protect yourself is to never open links or attachments on emails from unknown sources. Always stop and think twice before opening anything if the email hasn't come from a source you know. Even if the email looks legit, it can still be dangerous. If you're not 100% certain on it, don't open it.
Another way to protect from trojan malware is to be sceptical of free software and applications. Its very easy to get drawn in by the offer of free software that is very expansive elsewhere, but is this a website or person you trust? It can easily be a Trojan horse.
Finally using an antivirus tool is a great way to protect yourself, if you're using windows, windows defender has come a long way in the last few years and is one of the best free antivirus software solutions. Its built into windows for free and you can check its turned on in control panel. It will block and neutralize any malware it detects on your device.
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