One of the biggest troubles for an Internet user is a “Trojan horse” - a virus that is spread on the network by attackers. And although antivirus software developers are constantly modifying their programs to make them more reliable, the problem still remains, because hackers are not sitting still either.

After reading this article, you will learn how to protect your computer from penetration by a Trojan, and also learn how to remove this virus if it does end up on your device.

What is a Trojan horse?

The name of this virus is taken from a legend that says that the Greeks made a wooden horse with wars hidden inside.

This structure was then taken to the gates of Troy (hence the name), supposedly as a sign of reconciliation. At night, Greek soldiers opened the gates of the enemy city and inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy.

A computer virus works in a similar way. A Trojan horse is often disguised by attackers as a regular program, which, when downloaded, introduces malware onto your computer.

This virus differs from others in that it does not reproduce spontaneously, but gets to you as a result of a hacker attack. In most cases, you download a Trojan onto your device without knowing it.

A Trojan horse is a virus that can cause a lot of trouble to the user. Read on to find out what the consequences may be.

Signs of infection

If your computer was attacked by a Trojan, you can find out about it by the following changes in your computer:

• Firstly, the device will start rebooting without your command.
• Secondly, when a Trojan horse penetrates a computer, the performance of the device is significantly reduced.
• Thirdly, spam is sent from your email inbox.
• Fourthly, unknown windows open with pornography or advertising of a product.
• Fifthly, the operating system does not start, and if the download is successful, a window appears asking you to transfer money to the specified account to unlock the system.

In addition to all the above problems, there is another one - the loss of money from an electronic wallet or confidential information. If you notice that this has happened to you, then after removing the Trojan, you need to immediately change all passwords.

Trojan horse (virus). How to remove it from your computer?

Of course, the penetration of a Trojan horse can cause significant harm to the user (for example, financially), but since this is a fairly common type of virus, you can get rid of it using any popular antivirus (Kaspersky, Avast, Avira etc.).

If you suspect that your computer is being attacked by a Trojan, boot the device in Safe Mode and scan the system with an antivirus program. Quarantine any detected malware or remove it immediately. After that, open the “Programs and Features” section and get rid of suspicious applications that you did not install.

Sometimes the antivirus program is blocked by a Trojan horse. This virus is constantly being modernized, so situations like this happen. In this case, you can use one of the special utilities, for example SuperAntiSpyware or Spyware Terminator. In general, find a program that suits you, and then use it to remove the Trojan.

Conclusion

So now you know what a Trojan horse is. You can remove the virus discussed in this article yourself if it gets onto your computer.

Of course, it is better that such trouble does not happen to you, but for this you need to install a good antivirus program, regularly update its database, carefully monitor program warnings, and also not visit or download anything from suspicious resources.

Before unpacking any downloaded archive, be sure to scan it with an antivirus. Also check the flash drives - there should be no hidden files on them. Remember: a Trojan can cause a lot of problems, so take all measures to identify it responsibly.

Hello admin! I worked without an antivirus for two weeks, I didn’t surf the Internet much during this time, but today I installed an antivirus and it found three Trojan programs during scanning! Could they have done something in such a short period of time on my operating system?

Trojan programs: educational program

A separate type of malware is called Trojan because of comparison with the Trojan horse, which, according to ancient Greek mythology, was given to the inhabitants of Troy by the Greeks. Greek soldiers were hiding inside the Trojan horse. At night they came out of hiding, killed the Trojan guards and opened the city gates to the rest of the military force.

What is the essence of Trojan programs?

A Trojan program, also known as a Trojan, also known as a Trojan, is a type of malware that differs from classic viruses that independently infiltrate a computer, breed there and multiply by participating in the activation process of a human user. Trojan programs, as a rule, are not able to spread themselves, as viruses or network worms do. Trojan programs can disguise themselves as various types of files – installers, documents, multimedia files. The user, by launching the file under which the Trojan disguises itself, launches the Trojan itself. Trojan programs can be registered in the system registry and activated during Windows startup. Trojans are sometimes virus modules.

How can you pick up a Trojan program?

Installers of programs or games are often equipped with Trojans, and then they are posted on low-quality file hosting services, Varez sites and other less-than-ideal software portals for mass downloading by Internet users. You can also pick up a Trojan program by mail, online messengers, social networks and other sites.

Friends, now I will show you how you can download a real Trojan. For example, you decided to download it for yourself, typed the appropriate request in your browser and got to this site, naturally click Download

And instead of Windows, we are blatantly given to download a Trojan, the download of which is interrupted by my anti-virus program. Be careful.

The scenario for introducing Trojans can be different. These are requests to download some additional software - codecs, flash players, browsers, various updates for web applications, naturally, not from their official websites. For example, while surfing the Internet you may come across such a warning, which again hides a Trojan program. Please note that there is even a spelling error on the banner.

These are links from unknown users that you are actively persuaded to follow. However, an “infected” link on a social network, Skype, ICQ or other messenger can be sent by a familiar user, although he himself will not even suspect it, since the Trojan will do it instead of him. You can catch a Trojan by succumbing to any other tricks of its distributor, whose goal is to force you to download a malicious file from the Internet and run it on your computer.

This is what a live Trojan might look like, I just caught it yesterday on a friend’s computer, maybe the friend thought that he had downloaded the free antivirus Norton Antivirus 2014. If you run this “antivirus”, then

Windows desktop will be locked!

Signs of a Trojan on your computer

Various signs may indicate that a Trojan has penetrated your computer. For example, the computer itself reboots, turns off, launches some programs or system services on its own, and opens and closes the CD-ROM console on its own. The browser itself can load web pages that you have not even visited before. In most cases, these are various porn sites or gaming portals. Spontaneous downloading of porn - videos or pictures - is also a sign that a Trojan is already in full swing on the computer. Spontaneous screen flashes, and sometimes also accompanied by clicks, as happens when taking screenshots, are a clear sign that you have become a victim of a spyware Trojan. The presence of Trojan software in the system can also be indicated by new, previously unknown to you, applications in startup.

But Trojan programs do not always work, impersonating themselves, and their signs are not always obvious. In such cases, it is much easier for users of low-power computer devices than for owners of high-performance machines. If a Trojan penetrates, the first ones will be able to observe a sharp decline in performance. This is usually 100% CPU, RAM or disk load, but no user programs are active. And in the Windows Task Manager, almost all computer resources will be used by an unknown process.

For what purposes are Trojan programs created?

Theft of user data

Numbers of wallets, bank cards and accounts, logins, passwords, PIN codes and other confidential data of people - all this is of particular commercial interest to the creators of Trojan programs. That is why Internet payment systems and online banking systems try to secure the virtual money of their clients by introducing various security mechanisms. As a rule, such mechanisms are implemented by entering additional codes that are sent via SMS to a mobile phone.

Trojans do not only hunt for data from financial systems. The object of theft may be login data for various Internet user accounts. These are accounts of social networks, dating sites, Skype, ICQ, as well as other Internet platforms and instant messengers. Having taken over a user's account with the help of a Trojan, scammers can use various money-grabbing schemes on his friends and subscribers - asking for money, offering various services or products. And, for example, scammers can turn the account of some pretty girl into a point of sale of porn materials or redirect them to the necessary porn sites.

To steal people's confidential data, scammers usually create special Trojan software - spyware, also known as Spyware.

Spam

Trojans can be created specifically to collect email addresses of Internet users and then send them spam.

Downloading files and boosting website indicators

File sharing services are far from the most profitable type of income if you do everything honestly. A low-quality website is also not the best way to win a user audience. To increase the number of downloaded files in the first case and the traffic indicator in the second, you can introduce a Trojan into users’ computers, which, without knowing it, will help scammers improve their financial well-being. Trojan programs will open the desired link or website in the users’ browser.

Stealthy computer control

Not only cheating website indicators or downloading necessary files from file hosting services, but even hacker attacks on the servers of companies and government agencies are carried out with the help of Trojans, which are installers of backdoors. The latter are special programs created for remote control of a computer, naturally, secretly, so that the user does not guess anything and does not sound the alarm.

Data destruction

A particularly dangerous type of Trojan can lead to the destruction of data. And not only. The barbarity of some Trojan programs can result in damage to the hardware components of your computer or network equipment. DDoS attacks - disabling computer equipment - are carried out by hackers, usually to order. For example, to destroy data from competing companies or government agencies. Less commonly, DDoS attacks are an expression of political protest, blackmail or extortion. Novice hackers can practice carrying out DDoS attacks without any particular intent or global purpose in order to become experienced geniuses of evil in the future.

1. A Trojan horse is a program that gives outsiders access to a computer to perform any actions at the destination without warning the computer owner, or sends collected information to a specific address. Very often, Trojans get onto a computer along with useful programs or popular utilities, masquerading as them.

Quite often, the term “Trojan” refers to a virus. In fact, this is far from the case. Unlike viruses, Trojans are aimed at obtaining confidential information and accessing certain computer resources.

There are various possible ways for a Trojan to enter your system. Most often this happens when you launch any useful program in which the Trojan server is embedded. At the time of the first launch, the server copies itself to some directory, registers itself for launch in the system registry, and even if the carrier program never starts again, the system is already infected with a Trojan. You can infect a machine by running an infected program. This usually happens if programs are downloaded not from official servers, but from personal pages. A Trojan can also be introduced by strangers if they have access to the machine, simply by launching it from a floppy disk.

Some examples of Trojans:

Backdoor, Donald Dick, Crack2000, Extacis,KillCMOS and Netbus.

2. A virus is a program that can enter a computer in a variety of ways and cause effects ranging from merely annoying to very destructive. Viruses can enter computers through email, the Internet, various types of disks, etc., and have the following characteristics:

They are able to multiply, infecting other files and programs.

Computer viruses are called viruses because of their similarities with biological viruses.

Just as biological viruses enter the body and infect cells, computer viruses enter computers and infect files. Both types of viruses can reproduce themselves and spread by transmitting infection from one infected system to another. Just as a biological virus is a microorganism, a computer virus is a microprogram.

3. A worm is a program very similar to a virus. It is capable of self-replication and can lead to negative consequences for your system. However, worms do not need to infect other files to reproduce.

This is a type of malicious or, as they are also called, malicious programs. Such virtual worms have appeared a long time ago, along with viruses and spyware. A computer worm is similar to a virus because it enters the computer attached to a file. But unlike a virus, a worm has the ability to reproduce itself on your computer without requiring any user action. Another feature of a computer worm is that it not only spreads throughout the entire area of ​​your computer, but also automatically sends copies of itself via email.

It should also be understood that the longer a worm is in a computer system, the more harm and destruction it causes.Worms, unlike viruses, simply copy themselves, damaging files, but reproduction can occur very quickly, the network becomes oversaturated, which leads to the destruction of the latter. Some of the more notorious worms include (usually sent over the Internet):

I Love You, Navidad, Pretty Park, Happy99, ExploreZip.

A Trojan virus or simply a “Trojan” is correctly called a Trojan program. A Trojan is a type of malicious software designed to degrade a computer's performance until it completely fails. Sometimes Trojan horses are also called Trojan horses. The name “Trojan” is associated with ancient warriors who previously lived in the country of ancient Troy and have been extinct for three centuries. However, the inhabitants themselves were called Teucrians. They could quickly and powerfully strike their opponents with their swords. Many have heard the name “Trojan horse”. If you believe the legends, this is not a living horse under the command of the Teucrians, but a specially built huge horse during the time of the great Trojan warrior.

The very name of the Trojan virus comes from this same Trojan horse - their attack methods are almost identical. The legends say that it was because of the Trojan horse that Troy fell. As mentioned above, the Trojan program uses the same goals - first it penetrates the computer and then tries to disable it, legally transfer information to another person, disrupt the computer's performance, or use computer resources for bad purposes.

What kind of Trojans are there?

There are many names. Trojan. Malware, Trojan. Winlock, Pinch, TDL – 4. Strictly speaking, Trojan are not viruses themselves, but a family of them, which already includes the viruses themselves. But TDL-4 is already a program.

The goal of TDL-4 is to defeat a computer, after which another user can control the infected computer using the Internet. The similarity of the action is reminiscent of the Team Viewer program, but unlike TDL - 4, this program is completely legal and the user can see on the monitor what another user is doing at the moment. In addition, if necessary, the connection can be interrupted.

Pinch is a very, very dangerous virus. It works in three stages. First, he goes to the computer and downloads the files he needs for work. The size of the virus does not exceed 25 KB. Next, Pinch collects absolutely all the information about the user’s computer - where the files are stored, what the user’s video card, sound card and processor power are. It also collects information about installed browsers, antiviruses, a list of installed programs and data about the user’s FTP client. All this happens unnoticed. After collecting information, Pinch itself is packed into an archive and attached to it with the first letter. During the transmission of the letter, Pinch is separated, heading towards the hacker's computer. Afterwards, the hacker can decrypt the information using the Parser program and subsequently use this information for his own purposes.

In addition to Trojans and worms, there are several other classifications of malicious software (software), for example rootkits. Their goal is to seize administrator rights on the user’s computer and then use them for their own purposes.

How to get rid of Trojans?

In the same way as for all viruses, scan your computer for viruses. However, not every antivirus sees absolutely all viruses. Sometimes, in order for the antivirus not to find the “antivirus”, it is enough just to change its name and standard location on the hard drive. Therefore, smart developers came up with antiviruses specially created for a certain type of virus. Antiviruses can detect and deal with many worms on a computer, but are completely useless against rootkits and vice versa.

The leading fighters against Trojans and other malware are: Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Dr.Web, Eset(Nod32). Paid versions of which can be purchased.

Today on the World Wide Web you can find so many underwater reefs in the form of viruses that you can’t even count them. Naturally, all threats are classified according to the method of penetration into the system, the harm caused and methods of removal. Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous is the Trojan virus (or Trojan). We will try to consider what this threat is. Ultimately, we’ll also figure out how to safely remove this crap from a computer or mobile device.

"Trojan" - what is it?

Trojan viruses are a self-copying type with their own executable codes or embedded in other applications, which pose a fairly serious threat to any computer or mobile system.

For the most part, Windows and Android systems are most affected. Until recently, it was believed that such viruses did not affect UNIX-like operating systems. However, just a few weeks ago, Apple mobile gadgets were also attacked by the virus. It is believed that the Trojan poses a threat. We will now see what this virus is.

Analogy with history

The comparison with historical events is not accidental. And before we figure it out, let’s turn to Homer’s immortal work “The Iliad,” which describes the capture of rebellious Troy. As you know, it was impossible to enter the city in the usual way or take it by storm, so it was decided to give the residents a huge horse as a sign of reconciliation.

As it turned out, there were soldiers inside it, who opened the city gates, after which Troy fell. The Trojan program behaves in exactly the same way. The saddest thing is that such viruses do not spread spontaneously, like some other threats, but purposefully.

How does the threat enter the system?

The most common method used to penetrate a computer or mobile system is to disguise itself as some kind of attractive or even standard program for the user. In some cases, a virus may embed its own codes into existing applications (most often these are system services or user programs).

Finally, malicious code can enter computers and networks in the form of graphic images or even HTML documents - either arriving as email attachments or copied from removable media.

With all this, if the code is embedded in a standard application, it can still partially perform its functions; the virus itself is activated when the corresponding service is launched. It’s worse when the service is at startup and starts with the system.

Consequences of exposure

Regarding the impact of the virus, it may partially cause system crashes or interruption of Internet access. But this is not his main goal. The main task of the Trojan is to steal confidential data for the purpose of using it by third parties.

Here you will find PIN codes for bank cards, logins with passwords for accessing certain Internet resources, and state registration data (numbers and personal identification numbers, etc.), in general, everything that is not subject to disclosure, according to the opinion of the owner of the computer or mobile device (of course, provided that such data is stored there).

Unfortunately, when such information is stolen, it is impossible to predict how it will be used in the future. On the other hand, you don’t have to be surprised if one day they call you from some bank and say that you have a loan debt, or all the money will disappear from your bank card. And these are just flowers.

on Windows

Now let's move on to the most important thing: how To do this is not as easy as some naive users believe. Of course, in some cases it is possible to find and neutralize the body of the virus, but since, as mentioned above, it is capable of creating its own copies, and not just one or two, finding and removing them can become a real headache. At the same time, neither a firewall nor standard anti-virus protection will help if the virus has already been missed and infiltrated into the system.

In this case, it is recommended to remove the Trojan using portable anti-virus utilities, and in the case of RAM capture, with special programs loaded before starting the operating system from an optical media (disk) or USB device.

Among portable applications, it is worth noting products like Dr. Web Cure It and Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool. Of the disk programs, Kaspersky Rescue Disc is the most functional. It goes without saying that their use is not a dogma. Today you can find any amount of such software.

How to remove a Trojan from Android

As for Android systems, things are not so simple. Portable applications have not been created for them. In principle, as an option, you can try connecting the device to a computer and scanning the internal and external memory with a computer utility. But if you look at the other side of the coin, where is the guarantee that when connected, the virus will not penetrate the computer?

In such a situation, the problem of how to remove a Trojan from Android can be solved by installing the appropriate software, for example from Google Market. Of course, there are so many things here that you are simply at a loss as to what exactly to choose.

But most experts and specialists in the field of data protection are inclined to think that the best application is 360 Security, which is capable of not only identifying threats of almost all known types, but also providing comprehensive protection for the mobile device in the future. It goes without saying that it will constantly hang in RAM, creating an additional load, but, you see, security is still more important.

What else is worth paying attention to

So we have dealt with the topic “Trojan - what is this type of virus?” Separately, I would like to draw the attention of users of all systems, without exception, to a few more points. First of all, before opening email attachments, always scan them with an antivirus. When installing programs, carefully read the proposals for installing additional components such as add-ons or browser panels (the virus can be disguised there too). Do not visit dubious sites if you see an antivirus warning. Do not use the simplest free antiviruses (it is better to install the same Eset Smart Security package and activate using free keys every 30 days). Finally, store passwords, PIN codes, bank card numbers and everything else in encrypted form exclusively on removable media. Only in this case can you be at least partially confident that they will not be stolen or, even worse, used for malicious purposes.