DEFINITION

A Trojan horse is a piece of malicious programming code that can be installed by programmers into a harmless program or data, or can be placed on websites, bulletin boards, and in email attachments. Trojan horses may be designed to intentionally disrupt and damage computer activity, or designed to allow computer users access to the host computer across the internet (i.e. a “backdoor Trojan”). Traditionally, Trojan horses have been non-replicating, but now some contain functions enabling them to spread and create a more dangerous virus-like threat.

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