

Among those three, Trojans are the best at evading detection, but they also propagate the most slowly because they don’t self-replicate. THE MORE YOU KNOW: Trojans, viruses, and worms are all different types of malware. Ever heard of phishing scams, where scammers send emails from seemingly legitimate business email addresses? Hackers can use similar tactics to spread Trojans. If you do, your device will download and install the Trojan. For example, a hacker might attach a Trojan installer to an email while employing social engineering to get you to open the attachment. How Exactly Do Trojans Work?īecause Trojans don’t self-replicate, most Trojan attacks start with tricking the user into downloading, installing, and executing the malware. In contrast, when a Trojan infects a device, it stays there until the user copies or downloads the malicious program on a different computer.

3 A virus can spread to other devices by creating copies of itself and attaching them to the infected computer’s software, files, and folders. The main difference between viruses and Trojans is that viruses self-replicate, while Trojans do not. Trojans and computer viruses are both types of malware, but they each have unique traits. While that term is widely accepted, it is incorrect, technically. If you read up on Trojans online, you might see the term ‘Trojan virus’ thrown around a lot. Just as the soldiers crept out of the Trojan horse and attacked while the city of Troy slept, malicious codes in Trojan malware carry out hostile attacks on your devices behind your back. The seemingly harmless software is the hollowed-out wooden horse, and the malicious codes hidden within it are the Greek soldiers. 2 Trojan malware operates similarly to the Greeks’ Trojan horse strategy. You know, the wooden horse the Greeks supposedly used to smuggle soldiers into Troy. If you see parallels between Trojan malware and a certain horse of legends, that’s because Trojans actually take their name from the Trojan horse. To infiltrate a device, a Trojan presents itself as legitimate software, but hidden beneath its seemingly harmless exterior are malicious codes that can damage your devices.


It makes up approximately 51.45 percent of all malware, 1 which comes as no surprise, given the unique traits of a Trojan. What Is a Trojan? A Closer Look At This MalwareĪ Trojan horse, Trojan malware, or simply a Trojan is a type of malware.
