Trojans – and how to protect your network against them

Introduction. This white paper outlines what Trojans are and why they pose a danger to corporate networks. As early as 2001, an eWeek article reported that tens of thousands of machines are infected with Trojans. This is still the case today – and the use of more sophisticated technology makes them all the more alarming: Trojans can be used to steal credit card information, passwords, and other sensitive information, or to launch an electronic attack against your organization. The white paper discusses the need for a Trojan and executable scanner at mail server level in addition to a virus scanner, to combat this threat. What is a Trojan horse? In the IT world, a Trojan horse is used to enter a victim’s computer undetected, granting the attacker unrestricted access to the data stored on that computer and causing great damage to the victim. A Trojan can be a hidden program that runs on your computer without your knowledge, or it can be ‘wrapped’ into a legitimate program meaning that this program may therefore have hidden functions that you are not aware of. Full Story