Trojan Horse

1. Greek myth the huge wooden hollow figure of a horse left outside Troy by the Greeks when they feigned retreat and dragged inside by the Trojans. The men concealed inside it opened the city to the final Greek assault

2. Computing a bug inserted into a program or system designed to be activated after a certain time or a certain number of operations

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Trojan horse

[‚trō·jən ′hȯrs]

(computer science)

A computer program that has an unannounced function in addition to a desirable apparent function.

Trojan Horse

hollow horse concealed soldiers, enabling them to enter and capture Troy. [Gk. Myth.: Iliad]

See: Deceit

Trojan horse

(application, security)

(Coined by MIT-hacker-turned-NSA-spook Dan Edwards) A malicious, security-breaking program that is disguised as something benign, such as a directory lister, archiver, game, or (in one notorious 1990 case on the Mac) a program to find and destroy viruses! A Trojan horse is similar to a back door.

See also RFC 1135, worm, phage, mockingbird.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

Trojan

A program that appears legitimate but performs some illicit activity when run. It may be used to locate password information or make the system more vulnerable to future entry or simply destroy the user's stored software and data. A Trojan is similar to a virus, except that it does not replicate itself. Often sneaking in attached to a free game or other supposedly worthwhile utility, the Trojan remains in the computer doing damage or allowing someone from a remote location to take control. See Trojan dropper, wiretap Trojan, rootkit, RAT, Back Orifice, NetBus, PrettyPark, Talking Trojan, virus and information warfare.

The Trojan Horse
The term comes from Greek mythology, in which the Greeks battled the Trojans (people of Troy) in the 12th century BC. After years of being unable to break into the fortified city, the Greeks built a wooden horse, filled it with soldiers and pretended to sail away. After the Trojans brought the horse into the city, the Greek soldiers crept out at night, opened the gates of Troy to the returning soldiers, and Troy was destroyed.

The Trojan Horse

This is a scene from the 2004 movie "Troy," starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. The movie was a huge success. (Image courtesy of Radiant Productions and Plan B Entertainment.)

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References in periodicals archive

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The so-called Trojan Horse plot, which came to light in 2014, centred on an alleged move by a small group of hardline Muslims to seize control of a small number of Birmingham schools.

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Upon activation the Trojan horse displays some pomographic images, as well as the following message:

Ransom Trojan horse demands money with menaces

Most interesting is the appearance of Trojan horse, Clagger-G, in the chart this month at number eight, which is a clear demonstration of mass spamming holding its own against self-spreading malware.

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The spammed messages typically have no subject line and carry the message text "new price" and an attached file which can have one of several names and contains the BagleDl-U Trojan horse, said Sophos.

Sophos warns of new malicious Trojan horse

The cell then readily embraces the bacterium as something it thinks it wants, when in effect it's taking in a Trojan horse.' Falkow says a similar fakery is practiced by bacterial toxins that appear to cells as harmless hormones.

Protein plays Trojan horse

THE Department for Education is to reform disciplinary procedures for teachers to deal with any repeat of Birmingham's Trojan Horse scandal.

New teacher disciplinary procedure to deal with 'Trojan Horse' attempts

LONGER school days and small class sizes have been introduced by a failing Birmingham school at the heart of the Trojan Horse scandal in a bid to turn it around.

School's fightback after THETROJAN Horse scandal; New principal reveals key to turning school around after 'Islamist plot'

Sophos have warned users about a Trojan horse that poses as a wallchart for the World Cup tournament.

World Cup wallchart Trojan horse