what is trojan

A Trojan, or Trojan horse, is a type of malware that disguises itself as a legitimate program or file to trick users into loading and executing it on their device. Once installed, a Trojan can perform the action it was designed for, such as damaging, disrupting, stealing, or inflicting some other harmful action on the users data or network. Trojans are generally spread by some form of social engineering, such as duping a user into executing an email attachment disguised to appear innocuous or by clicking on a fake advertisement on social media or anywhere else). Although their payload can be anything, many modern forms act as a backdoor, contacting a controller who can then have unauthorized access to the affected computer). Trojans are different from other types of malware because they trick users into installing them themselves. Unlike viruses or worms, Trojans cannot replicate themselves or self-execute, and they require specific and deliberate action from the user.