The Trojan Virus is Evolving, Here's How...

The Trojan virus can be traced back all the way to the 1980s. Though Trojans have been around for a long time, many people don’t know the first thing about them. This is proved by the fact that so many users around the globe are still fooled by hackers into downloading malware. To understand the basics of a Trojan, one must only look as far as its name. In the Greek Mythology story of Troy, the enemy built a huge wooden horse, hid inside of it, and offered it as a gift to the Trojans as a gesture of peace. At night they unloaded from the horse and ransacked Troy. The virus does the same thing to your devices. A hacker will hide malware in what appears to be a normal program. When the application is downloaded, it installs the malware which will then take over your device, steal information, and continue infecting malware throughout the system.

Trojan Virus Types

Like most online threats, Trojans come in many varieties. The Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) Attack Trojan floods a network with traffic to take it down, whereas an Infostealer Trojan is used with the specific intent to grab data from the user’s device. Another common type is the Backdoor Trojan, which as its name suggests, allows the hacker access to the device. This is turn, gives them the ability to acquire any information they want as they act as the user. They can then send malicious files and other viruses to the user’s contacts, reboot the computer, or delete crucial data. With the recent spike in ransomware and phishing scams, Trojan Ransom attacks are also on the rise. This type of Trojan will modify data on your device, rendering it inaccessible. Hackers will then threaten holding these often-crucial files until a ransom is paid.

Trojans on Smartphones

According to Kaspersky Lab, in 2017, 5,730,916 malicious installation packages were detected. What’s more, cyber attackers are targeting devices other than the usual laptops and desktops. Kaspersky states 94,368 mobile banking Trojans and 544,107 mobile ransomware Trojans were caught in 2017. Oftentimes these smartphone Trojan attacks occur during an app download. What seems to be a safe app is replaced with a phony download of malware, so a user may download something expecting it to be a game or social app and wind up with a Trojan. These are usually advertised on pirate and illegitimate sites, aiming at people searching for a free copy of an app. Once the malware has been installed, a hacker will hijack a device and send infected text messages to the phone’s contact list in the attempt to acquire more devices.

Staying Protected from a Trojan Virus

An imperative method of protection against Trojans is an up-to-date anti-virus software that regularly scans a device for potential threats. Protecting an entire company from Trojan attacks takes diligence in staff education. Regular security campaigns and seminars are a must to keep employees aware of what’s out there. Learning how they can safeguard their own and the company’s data from being attacked should be a priority. Ensure everyone knows not to download any files or programs from risky sites. If an app is required for download onto an employee computer, get an experienced member of the IT team to help out and verify the safety of the app. This starts with vigilant monitoring of permissions to employees, making sure the minimum amount of permissions necessary are granted.

Conclusion

Regularly backing up for safe and quick online data recovery and restoration is another important defense against Trojan attacks. The StorageCraft® Recovery Solution™ can help you with that. We’re the data recovery pro! Our backups include everything on your physical and virtual machines—the operating system, applications, settings, and data—so recovery is complete. Automated, advanced verification of backup images shows you backups are working properly and guarantees dependable, complete system recovery. Contact us today for more information or click here to try StorageCraft® Shadow Protect™ today.