How a Trojan horse wrecks havoc

Making Trojan horses understandable

Everything isn’t how it appears.

A huge wooden horse showed up at the gate of the Trojans. The Trojans thought the horse was a peace offering from the Greeks. Little did they know the destruction of their empire was contained.

You know the story but today we are talking about a different type of Trojan horse.

Trojan horses exist in the computer world. They show up packaged as software you want. Then wreak havoc on your computer once installed.

You can prevent them from installing on your computer.

What’s a Trojan horse?

A Trojan horse is a classification of virus that comes into your computer disguised as different software.

How does it work?

Since it comes in disguised as a different software, you might accidentally install one from an app you download, a website asking you to run software to use their site, a browser extension, an email attachment, or pirated software.

Once this bad software is in, they exploit weaknesses in the operating systems like zero-days.

On mobile devices.

Yes, they are created for mobile devices. They are more prevalent on Android since you can install software from anywhere. However, there have malicious apps in the Apple store.

How do I prevent Trojan horses?

The best way to prevent any virus is to install software only from trusted sources. These are places you can verify are good. If you’re unsure the best place to get software is from the creator’s website.

Make sure your anti-virus and anti-malware are up to date and running regularly (at least once a week, preferably more).

Can a Mac get a Trojan horse?

Yes, all operating systems can get a Trojan horse including Mac. They’re less prevalent on MacOS. The number of Trojan horses created for Mac is increasing as Apple is gaining market share in personal computers.