Trojans....
We've all heard the story time and time again: the Greeks couldn't defeat the Trojans in Troy, so they built a Trojan horse filled with Greek soldiers outside of Troy's walls. Thinking it was a gift from the gods, the Trojans brought the horse inside their walls. Within a short time, Greek soldiers from inside the horse open the gates of Troy and perform one of the most historical surprise attacks ever, obliterating the Trojans and winning both Troy and the Trojan War. Well, it seems like this event has made such an impact that intruders commonly use this tactic to gain control of systems everywhere.
As you may already know, a Trojan (may also be known as a Trojan Horse) is a program that looks beneficial to the user but, when activated, it delivers a negative payload that you were not suspecting. Trojans can deliver such payloads as viruses, and backdoors. In fact, backdoors are probably the most common payload that Trojans equip.
Right now, you might be thinking that Trojans are only developed by the best of the best; the peak-performers of computer programming. Well, this is also incorrect. Creating a Trojan is so easy that anyone can do it. Seriously, we're talking about pretty much push-a-single-button kind of easy. Yes, that's right. we've worked with tools like these, and it's quite scary to see how easy it is to make your own bona-fide Trojan!
Trojans are very difficult to identify on your own. The good news is since Trojans are so easy to develop, they are usually developed with code that has been identified by anti-virus vendors on all four corners of the world as a threat. With that in mind, even if you do activate a Trojan on your computer, it will automatically be detected by your anti-virus program and appropriate actions will be taken before the Trojan even has a chance to do anything!
To provide yourself with detecting and preventing Trojans, do the following:
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Keep your computer up-to-date with the latest patches: The negative payloads that Trojans equip usually take advantage of security holes. These patches seal up these security holes, so it's in your best interest to keep up with the most recent patches available. Not sure if you have the most up-to-date patches? Have a look at Microsoft's website and click on the Microsoft Update link on the left-hand menu. You also have the option of having critical patches automatically update your machine when available. To set this option, do the following:
- Click Start, then My Computer
- Under the Other Places menu to the left, click Control Panel
- If you are in Category View, click Security Center and click on the Automatic Updates section at the bottom of the new window that opened. In the new window that opened, make sure the Automatic (recommended) is selected.
- If you are in Classic View, click System. When the new window opens, click the Automatic Updates tab and make sure the Automatic (recommended) is selected.
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Have anti-virus software installed with up-to-date virus definitions: Having anti-virus software with the most up-to-date virus definitions is one of your best defenses against Trojans. Not only that, but it's a fact that anti-virus software is pretty much useless if you don't keep its virus definitions up-to-date.
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Use extreme caution when opening attachments in emails: This is probably the most common avenue that Trojans take advantage of. Always use anti-virus tools to scan emails attachments for Trojans. Even if the email looks like it came from someone you know, it never hurts to scan it.
