Indications of a Trojan Attack

Indications of a Trojan Attack

Unusual system behavior is usually an indication of a Trojan attack. Actions such as programs starting and running without the user’s initiation; CD-ROM drawers opening or closing; wallpaper, background, or screen saver settings changing by themselves; the screen display flipping upside down; and a browser program opening strange or unexpected websites are all indications of a Trojan attack. Any action that is suspicious or not initiated by the user can be an Indication of a Trojan attack.

Countermeasure Techniques in Preventing Trojans

Most commercial antivirus program has anti-Trojan capabilities as well as spyware detection and removal functionality. These tools can automatically scan hard drives on startup to detect backdoor and Trojan programs before they can cause damage. Once a system is infected, it’s more difficult to clean,

but you can do so with commercially available tools. It’s important to use commercial applications to clean a system instead of freeware tools, because many freeware removal tools can further infect the system. In addition, port-monitoring tools can identify ports that have been opened or files that have changed.

Trojan-Evading Techniques

The key to preventing Trojans and backdoors from being installed on a system is to educate users not to install applications downloaded from the Internet or open e-mail attachments from parties they don’t know. Many systems administrators don’t give users the system permissions necessary to install programs on their system for that very reason.