The document discusses the definition and impact of malware, specifically focusing on trojan horse viruses, which disguise themselves as legitimate programs to gain unauthorized access to computer systems. It outlines common methods for infection through social engineering tactics, such as deceptive email attachments and social media advertisements. To mitigate attacks, it recommends measures including the installation of anti-malware software, regular system updates, scanning external devices, and exercising caution with untrusted programs and email attachments.

1. Running head: MALWARE
1
MALWARE
2
Student’s name:
Professor' name:
Topic:
Institution:
Date:
Malware-Trojan horse virus
Malware can be defined as any file or program that is
introduced to a computer with the intention of harming the user.
The harm to the user can be through interfering with his use of
the compute, unauthorized access to his data, locking the user
out of his computer and also spying on the user’s activity. There
are several types of malware and they include ransom ware,
Trojan horses, computer viruses, worms and spyware (White,
Fisch & Pooch, 2017). For this particular assignment, I will
focus on Trojan horse virus. The name Trojan horse comes from
the famous Greek story, where Greek soldiers were able to take

2. down the city of Troy after they sneaked into the city inside a
wooden horse that was guised as a gift to the people of Troy.
Just like the story the Trojan horse virus disguises itself as a
legitimate program however the program provides unauthorized
access into the system most of the time to hackers.
Most of the time, Trojan horses gain access to a secured system
through social engineering. Most of the time, Trojan horse
viruses are introduced into a system by duping a user into
executing an attachment on an email guised to be unsuspicious.
They can also be introduced via social media where users are
tricked into clicking on fake advertisements or advertisements
that offer fake rewards. Once the links or attachments are
clicked on, a Trojan horse virus is introduced. Trojan horse
viruses can allow an attacker to have access to a user’s personal
information and other forms of data. Trojan horse viruses can
affect other devices on the network through infection caused by
the introduction of the first Trojan horse; most ransom ware is
introduced through Trojan horse viruses (Wang, Lorch & Parno,
2016). In addition, through the use of Trojan horse viruses,
attackers can modify data, copy data, block data, delete data and
generally disrupt or distort the performance and operations of
targeted computers or devices in a network.
Steps of mitigating a Trojan horse virus attack
The first step in mitigating a Trojan horse virus attack is the
installation of effective anti-malware software or what is
commonly referred to as an anti-virus. The anti-malware will
detect as well as prevent any Trojan horse virus attack on a
computer or a network. The second step in mitigating Trojan
horse virus attacks is the installation of the latest available
patches of the operating system in use. The third step is proper
scanning of all external devices that are introduced to a
computer or a network (Rader & Rahman, 2015). The fourth
step is through the cautioning on the execution of any program
that is not from a trusted source. The fifth step is the cautioning
on the opening of email attachments from unknown senders
especially attachments that have the extensions .vbs and .exe.

3. The final step or caution is to be alert on social media adverts
especially those that offer rewards through clicking on links.
References
Rader, M., & Rahman, S. (2015). Exploring historical and
emerging phishing techniques and mitigating the associated
security risks. arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.00082.
Wang, J. H., Lorch, J. R., & Parno, B. J. (2016). U.S. Patent
No. 9,230,100. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.
White, G. B., Fisch, E. A., & Pooch, U. W. (2017). Computer
system and network security. CRC press.