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trojans

Trojan, short for Trojan horse, is a term used to describe malware that appears, to the user, to perform a desirable function but, in fact, facilitates unauthorized access to the user's computer system. The term comes from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology. Trojan horses are not self-replicating which distinguishes them from viruses and worms. Additionally, they require interaction with a hacker to fulfil their purpose. The hacker need not be the individual responsible for distributing the Trojan horse. It is possible for hackers to scan computers on a network using a port scanner in the hope of finding one with a Trojan horse installed

Trojan horses are designed to allow a hacker remote access to a target computer system. Once a Trojan horse has been installed on a target computer system it is possible for a hacker to access it remotely and perform operations. The type of operations that a hacker can perform are limited by user privileges on the target computer system and the design of the Trojan horse itself.

The related software:

rootkits
worms
backdoor