Trojan Horse
Trojan Horse
A program disguised as legitimate software that sneaks in and secretly carries out harmful actions.
In Simple Terms
A Trojan horse looks like an ordinary app at first glance, but it's actually a program built for harmful purposes like stealing information. It often disguises itself as a mobile game or handy tool to trick users into downloading it themselves. Reported damage includes secretly stealing passwords and communicating with outside servers without permission.
Behind the Name
The name comes from Greek mythology and the story of a giant wooden horse. Greek soldiers tricked their enemies into bringing the horse inside the city walls, then snuck out from inside it at night and conquered the city. Because this kind of malware tricks people the same way — disguising itself as a harmless gift to deceive its target — it was given this name.
Take a Closer Look!
A Trojan horse is a program that disguises itself as an ordinary file or useful software to sneak onto a computer or smartphone, then secretly causes harm behind the scenes.
Because it looks like a helpful app at first glance, users are tricked into installing it themselves.
This is a bit different from what's typically called a computer virus, since a Trojan horse doesn't have the ability to spread on its own by infecting other files.
Instead, it commonly relies on tricking people into downloading it through booby-trapped websites or suspicious email attachments.
Once a Trojan horse gets in, it quietly steals sensitive data like passwords and credit card information.
It can also secretly create a backdoor that lets outside attackers remotely control the device.
In some cases, an infected device gets hijacked to send out mass spam or scam emails without the owner's knowledge, which is why it's important not to casually open suspicious files.