The Anti-virus Times

Friday, March 3, 2017

"Trojans and viruses aren't the same thing. Unlike viruses, Trojans are peaceful by nature but even more malicious".

When the author came across this statement on the Internet, a vivid image of an armoured train puffing placidly along a railroad siding came to mind, causing him to nearly choke.

But really, what is a Trojan horse application (or, as many simply call it, “a Trojan”)? Let's ask Google, the almighty!

"If files appear and disappear on your computer seemingly out of nowhere, the system freezes all the time, someone appears to be using your passwords and other actions are performed without your consent, all this is a Trojan's doing. Trojans inflict huge damage in a system, far greater than ordinary viruses. Removing a Trojan isn't very difficult. Just install an anti-virus or any other Trojan removal application and scan the system."

Hmm? It appears that a Trojan is a serious beast but vulnerable, and anyone can make short work of one. Let's look for other explanations.

"A Trojan is an OK virus, but if you don’t deal with it, it will eat your database and make you reinstall your system. Kaspersky can't cure it either and only offers to remove infected files. Don’t hesitate to delete it because, just like I said, it will devour your database as it did on my computer, and I had to reinstall Windows!!!".

We keep looking through the search results. And here is this revelation:

"Deleting a virus is a rather complex procedure which often has unpleasant consequences".

Well, maybe it shouldn't be deleted then? This sounds dangerous. But back to the Trojans:

"It is a malicious program that pretends to be good but does whatever it was programmed to do". (Trojan Horse-Trojan War)".

That is to say, it wears a pleasant smile but grabs your personal data and runs off with it. Sounds familiar, right?

"A ‘remote administration program’ is a fancy way of referring to a Trojan. It’s a program that hides from users and makes their computers perform whatever actions the owner or maker of the Trojan wants".

Well, most malicious programs do that, but you can't really refer to all applications used for remote administration as Trojans.

"A Trojan is a special spyware virus that monitors all the activities on a computer and makes itself look like useful software. Technically, it is a program module that monitors system events and mostly keyboard input and sends the information it has gathered into the network".

Here the user is mixing up the types of malware and their functions. They are describing spyware.

"A Trojan program (a Trojan) is malicious, and, therefore, it should be deleted immediately. It looks like a legitimate program. Unlike viruses and worms, which can replicate themselves, Trojans are created and distributed by people. Trojans infiltrate computers, and if they are not deleted, they will install themselves in the system and may start downloading other malware from the Internet ".

Close to the truth, except for the last sentence which describes only a variety of Trojans—downloaders.

"Trojans are a type of virus. But unlike viruses, Trojans ’serve their master’, i.e., their maker”.

Then it would appear that viruses don't do that. Apparently, here the user is speaking about viruses of the past, which to a large extent weren't designed for profit and were often intended to perform destructive tasks. It’s sufficient to recall the infamous WinCIH. Here is one more Trojan definition:

"A virus that infiltrates computers in the guise of a program with useful features and inflicts some kind of damage".

So, if a program does something useful, does that mean it’s malicious? Sounds strange.

"It is not exactly a virus—it doesn't replicate itself and won't break down your rig. It will just sit there quietly and enable hackers to retrieve your information, such as passwords, or even to some extent control your rig covertly. For example, some Trojans may send spam from your mailbox".

Again, they are talking about remote control and gathering information. It’s funny that none of the many definitions mention that system lockers and encryption ransomware programs are also Trojans.

The definitions listed above were retrieved from the first two pages of Google search results. Let's stop there. We won't provide the links here because we do not intend to offend the authors in any way.