How to Prevent the Trojan Horse Virus

The internet is one of the crowning achievements of our civilisation, revolutionising global communication and transforming how we connect and interact with each other. However, with these advancements, it’s become crucial to protect yourself and your family in this new digital world. In the same way that you secure your home with locks on your doors and windows, it is just as necessary to strengthen your cyber security. This will ensure nothing nasty infects your device and keeps your network and data safe. 

The Trojan Horse viruses are one of the most dangerous viruses your device can get. Read on to find out how to keep your device and network safe from Trojan viruses.

What is a Trojan Horse Virus?

A virus is a piece of malicious software that is designed to work from the inside of your computer.  

Firstly, it’s important to understand where the name comes from. Named after the famous tale of the Trojan Horse in Virgil’s The Aeneid, written around 25 BC during Roman times, it is the story of a ploy to infiltrate the walled city of Troy through deception. The story goes that Greeks pretended to retreat from their siege on the city, leaving behind a giant wooden horse as a peace offering to the citizens of Troy. The Trojans decided to wheel their new gift inside the walls, only for a few Greek soldiers hidden inside it to sneak out under the cover of night and open the city doors, allowing the entire Greek army into the city to win the battle. 

The Trojan Horse virus is aptly named as it works in a similar way. Unlike a computer virus, a Trojan virus requires the user to perform an action that allows it to enter. They are usually downloaded by the user sneaking past your computer’s defences disguised as some innocuous software designed to do something else. They are created by cybercriminals to perform malicious tasks.

They are able to spread so easily as they are downloaded through legitimate looking files. Once a computer is infected with Trojan malware, it can also be used as a ‘zombie computer’ where it is operated remotely to spread malware across an entire network of devices, without the user’s knowledge. This is known as a ‘botnet’.   

Why Are Trojan Horse Viruses Used?

Trojan viruses are used by cybercriminals for malicious tasks such as: 

• Data theft: To steal your personal information such as passwords, personal information and bank details.
• Remote Access: A Trojan can create a hidden ‘backdoor’ on your computer, allowing the malware’s creator to remotely control the device. From here, the infected device can spread malware over the whole network through a ‘botnet’ which can cripple businesses. It’s vital every organisation has strong cybersecurity to prevent this from happening. 
• Financial Fraud: They can be used to gain access to your bank account to steal money and redirect payments.
• Ransomware Trojans: This is when cyber criminals lock you out of your computer and devices. They encrypt all your data and try to destroy any backups you might have stored. They will then send you a ransom in order for you to regain access to your device. This is why you should always keep your backups away from your device or network. 
• Spying: Trojans can be used to monitor your activity and take screenshots and recordings. 
• System Damage: This is when the virus modifies system settings and deletes data which can lead to system issues or crash the device altogether. This is plain old vandalism for the fun of it.

Types of Trojan Viruses 

Trojan software can be split into types by what they do.

• Password Trojans: Designed to steal personal information such as passwords, card details etc.
• Remote Backdoor Access Trojans: Designed to create a ‘backdoor’ to a device so that it can be controlled by the virus creator to perform all kinds of malicious acts. 
• DDoS Trojans: Distributed Denial of Service is a type of attack on systems by an army of compromised computers controlled by Trojan virus software. They bombard a website with fake messages designed to overwhelm the target website causing it to shut down.
• Downloader Trojans: Designed to download extra Trojans to compromise the infected device in as many different ways as possible.  This is a defence against antivirus software removing one type of Trojan. Like any virus, if it isn’t completely eradicated, it is able to return.

How Do Trojan Horse Viruses Infect Computers?

There are a number of ways Trojan Horses can infect computers. The malware can disguise themselves as desirable files that look legitimate. If the file is free to download, it should already be a red flag and you should be thinking what the unknown author has to gain by letting you have this for nothing. Here are some of the main ways Trojan Horses infect devices:

• Opening Email Attachments: This is an old, but well-known distribution method. The malicious software is attached to an innocuous looking attachment. These can be Word or Excel documents, PDFs, or Executable files. If you weren’t expecting the file, you should delete the email without opening the file.
• Compromised Websites: These websites will inject the Trojan Horse software onto your computer when you visit them. Don’t click on any links on the site and leave immediately if anything appears amiss. 
• Free or Pirated/Cracked software: This software can very often have an unwelcome Trojan or two attached to them, so when you install them, you install the malware as well.
• Ads and Pop Ups: Clicking on an ad or pop-up can download and deploy a Trojan.  Always go directly to the website you want to visit and avoid clicking ads on websites you’re not familiar with. 
• Fake Antivirus software: This manifests as pop up ‘alerts’ guiding the user to install a piece of software to remove Trojans ‘found’ on their system. This is a lie and actually results in you installing the Trojan yourself. Always go directly to the company website when you’re looking for antivirus software.
• Fake websites and links: These can be carbon copy websites that are meant to look like a bank or legitimate software supplier, but they are not. Their software has a nasty little Trojan attached to it. Always check the website address you are at, since this cannot generally be faked. Look for HTTPS at the start and make sure that the spelling is 100% correct.

How to Tell If I Have a Trojan Horse Virus

There are three main telltale signs that can help you identify that your device has been infected:

• Poor device performance: All computing devices that are general purpose often seem to slow down as time goes on. But have you noticed a rapid decrease in speed?  Something malicious could well be stealing your resources for its own use…
• Strange device behaviour: Do programs start on their own without you prompting them to? Are there other unexplained processes being executed on your device? This could be a sign your device is infected.
• Pop-up and spam interruptions: Are you seeing an increase in spam and/or pop ups as you surf the web? Often these pop-ups can be difficult to shut down which is a sign of malware. 

How to Protect Your Computer From Trojan Horse Viruses

Defending against Trojan malware can be split into a number of different but related areas. We can use the setup of our monthly managed support package as a template to explain what you need.  Let’s look at what we provide each month:

Security Through Software

Having suitable security software installed is vital. By this, we mean anti-viral software and system tools to keep your Windows system free of unwanted software. We provide: 

• Email Security & Threat Protection: Detect and secure malicious emails before they do any damage.
• Cyber Fraud and Phishing Defence: AI software to intercept & block malicious emails & links.
• Content Filtering: Detects and secure your computer system to avoid malicious websites.

Security Through Updating

Software isn’t easy to perfect, and security loopholes are often found.  Providers of commercial software will generally supply updates and fixes (known as ‘patches’) that are designed to patch the security hole so it cannot be exploited.

We provide:

• Third Party Patching & OS Updates: We will configure your computer or multiple devices to make sure that they are fully up to date with the latest operating system updates and that applications are patched.

Security Through Education

This area is probably the least looked at, but it is vitally important nonetheless.  Happily, many users nowadays do take the precaution of security software, which leaves only trickery to manipulate people into making mistakes and opening their systems to hackers and thievery.

We provide:

• Security Awareness Training/Materials: Learn and understand the known tricks and how to avoid them.

Conclusion 

Awareness and proactive steps are your best defence against Trojan Horse Viruses. The advice we have provided in this article is applicable to anyone who has a computer, from individual users to businesses. Stay vigilant, ensure your devices are regularly updated, and keep your digital doors securely locked.

As a managed service provider that’s been around for more than 50 years, SES Computers has watched the security situation become more and more of a concern both for our customers and ourselves. We offer a free cyber/IT review. Contact us to see how we can help keep you secure from Trojan Viruses and other malware. 

sales@sescomputers.com

+44 1305 820300