Trojan Horse….Greek Myth or Computer Nemesis?

We have all heard the term Trojan Horse, but what exactly is it?  A Trojan Horse is a destructive program that masquerades as a harmless application. Unlike viruses, Trojan Horses do not replicate themselves, but they can be just as destructive. One of the most dangerous examples of a Trojan is a program that promises to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses into your computer.

The Trojan can be tricky. Who hasn’t been online and had an advertisement pop up claiming to be able to rid your computer of some nasty virus?  Or, even more frightening, you receive an email that claims to be alerting you to a new virus that can threaten your computer. The sender promises to quickly eradicate, or protect, your computer from viruses if you simply download their “free”, attached software into your computer. You may be skeptical but the software looks legitimate and the company sounds reputable.  You proceed to take them up on their offer and download the software.  In doing so, you have just potentially exposed yourself to a massive headache and your computer to a laundry list of ailments. 

When a Trojan is activated, numerous things can happen.  Some Trojans are more annoying than malicious.  Some of the less annoying Trojans may choose to change your desktop settings or add silly desktop icons.  The more serious Trojans can erase or overwrite data on your computer, corrupt files, spread other malware such as viruses, spy on the user of a computer and secretly report data like browsing habits to other people, log keystrokes to steal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, phish for bank account details (which can be used for criminal activities), and even install a backdoor into your computer system so that they can come and go as they please.

To increase your odds of not encountering a Trojan, follow these guidelines. 

1.     Remain diligent
Trojans can infect your computer through rogue websites, instant messaging, and emails with attachments.  Do not download anything into your computer unless you are 100 percent sure of its sender or source.

2.  Ensure that your operating system is always up-to-date.  If you are running a Microsoft Windows operating system, this is essential.

3.  Install reliable anti-virus software.  It is also important that you download any updates frequently to catch all new Trojan Horses, viruses, and worms.  Be sure that the anti-virus program that you choose can also scan e-mails and files downloaded through the internet.

4.   Consider installing a firewall.  A firewall is a system that prevents unauthorized use and access to your computer.  A firewall is not going to eliminate your computer virus problems, but when used in conjunction with regular operating system updates and reliable anti-virus software, it can provide additional security and protection for your computer.

Nothing can guarantee the security of your computer 100 percent. However, you can continue to improve your computer's security and decrease the possibility of infection by consistently following these guidelines.

Computer Viruses that Come a Callin’

Every day new computer viruses are created to annoy us and to wreck havoc on our computer systems. Below are ten viruses currently cited as being the most prevalent in terms of being seen the most or in their ability to potentially cause damage.   New viruses are created daily.  This is by no means an all inclusive list. The best thing you can do is to remain vigilant, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats.

Virus:  Trojan.Lodear
A Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.

Virus:  W32.Beagle.CO@mm
A mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings.  It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.

Virus:  Backdoor.Zagaban

A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.

Virus: W32/Netsky-P
A mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives.

Virus:  W32/Mytob-GH
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform.  Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as:  Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.

Virus:  W32/Mytob-EX
A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH.  W32/Mytob-EX runs continuously in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain access and control over the computer via IRC channels.  This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email addresses.

Virus:  W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER

This family of worm variations possesses similar characteristics in terms of what they can do.   They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network.   Additionally, they can spread through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011).

Virus:  Zafi-D
A mass mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe.   It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension.  W32/Zafi-D copies itself to folders with names containing share, upload, or music as ICQ 2005a new!.exe or winamp 5.7 new!.exe. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption "CRC: 04F6Bh" and the text "Error in packed file!".

Virus:  W32/Netsky-D
A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.

Virus: W32/Zafi-B

A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will copy itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an internet connection by attempting to connect to www.google.com or www.microsoft.com.  A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to “We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, Pécs (SNAF Team)”

Destroy Viruses: Advancements in Antivirus Software Suites

Protecting your computer from a virus is getting harder and harder each day.  While it may border on the paranoid, it goes without saying that you can’t leave your guard down for one second.  Even corporate giant Microsoft has found its own systems compromised on more than one occasion. 

Remember the “good old days”, before the advent of the Internet and downloadable programs?  Life was simple then in terms of computer viruses.  With the primary way in which a virus could be transmitted being limited to floppy disks, the ability to catch and eradicate the virus was a lot easier.    By today’s standards, it used to take quite a while before a virus was able to infect a computer and slow down the system.  The antivirus software of that time was typically able to identify and eradicate viruses before they caused too much damage.  Additionally, computer users were pretty savvy on how to protect themselves in terms of scanning all floppy disks before copying them to our desktop. 

The Internet helped change all that.  The Internet provided a conduit by which viruses could move from host to host with lightening speed.  No longer could a computer user just worry about floppy disks as points of entry, but they now had to worry about email, email attachments, peer-to-peer file sharing, instant messaging, and software downloads.  Today’s viruses can attack through multiple entry points, spread without human intervention, and take full advantage of vulnerabilities within a system or program.  With technology advancing everyday, and the convergence of computers with other mobile devices, the potential of new types of threats also increase. 

Protecting Your Computer

Luckily, the advancement of antivirus software has kept pace with current virus threats.   Antivirus software is essential to a computer’s ability to fend off viruses and other malicious programs.  These products are designed to protect against the ability of a virus to enter a computer through email, web browsers, file servers and desktops.  Additionally, these programs offer a centralized control feature that handle deployment, configuration and updating.

A computer user should remain diligent and follow a few simple steps to protect against the threat of a virus:

1. Evaluate your current computer security system.
With the threat of a new generation of viruses able to attack in a multitude of ways, the approach of having just one antivirus software version has become outdated.  You need to be confident that you have protected all aspects of your computer system from the desktop to the network, and from the gateway to the server.  Consider a more comprehensive security system which includes several features including antivirus, firewall, content filtering, and intrusion detection.  This type of system will make it more difficult for the virus to penetrate your system.

2. Only install antivirus software created by a well-known, reputable company. 
Because new viruses erupt daily, it is important that you regularly update your antivirus software.  Become familiar with the software’s real-time scan feature and configure it to start automatically each time you boot your computer.  This will protect your system by automatically checking your computer each time it is powered up. 

3. Make it a habit to always scan all new programs or files no matter from where they originate.

4. Exercise caution when opening binary, Word, or Excel documents of unknown sources especially if they were received during an online chat or as an attachment       to an email.  

5.  Perform regular backups in case your system is corrupted.  It may be the only way to recover your data if infected.

Recommended Antivirus Software

There are numerous applications available to consumers.  With a little research, you can pick the program that is right for you.  Many programs provide a trial version which allows you to download the program and test its abilities.  However, be aware that some anti-virus programs can be difficult to uninstall.  As a precaution make sure to set up a System Restore point before installing. 

Here are a few programs which typically receive high marks in terms of cost, effectiveness, ease of use, and customer service.

The Shield Pro 2005™ provides virus protection and hacker security through ongoing support and updates. When a virus breaks out, The Shield Pro 2005™ promises to provide a patch within 2-3 hours and a fix for the virus within 5 hours. You can set your computer to update viruses weekly and run a complete virus scan.

BitDefender 9 Standard provides antivirus protection, as well as Peer-2-Peer Applications protection, full email protection, and heuristics in a virtual environment.  This provides a new security layer that keeps the operating system safe from unknown viruses by detecting malicious pieces of code for which signatures have not been released yet.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal 5.0  program is simple to install and use. The user only needs to choose from three levels of protection.  It allows updates as frequently as every hour while promising not to disrupt your computer.  The program also offers a two-tier email protection feature and round-the-clock technical support.

PC-cillin Internet Security  combines antivirus security and a personal firewall—for comprehensive protection against viruses, worms, Trojans, and hackers. It also detects and removes spyware and blocks spam. It even guards against identity theft by blocking phishing and pharming attacks.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition  is a free downloadable antivirus program that has received high marks for its reliability.  In the past, free downloadable antivirus programs have been viewed skeptically because of issues relating to its reliability.  However, AVG from Grisoft, remains one of the best-known free anti-virus programs available.  While AVG can not be installed on a server operating system and there is no technical support, it still makes a good choice for many home computer users.  The best part is that since it is free, you can try it with no further obligation necessary.

About Norton Anti-Virus

With the many types of anti-virus software, it is helpful to read a brief description of what the different types do and how they can be beneficial to you and your computer.

Norton Anti-virus

Symantec's Norton AntiVirus software is perhaps the world's most trusted antivirus solution. It is available for both Windows PC's, and Macintosh (Symantec Antivirus for Macintosh - S.A.M). Norton AntiVirus is a very reliable and easy-to-use anti-virus product. It's the best anti-virus product for catching viruses in downloaded files and E-mail. Norton AntiVirus is also more expensive than McAfee VirusScan although not by much, and the added abilities of Norton can easily make up the difference.

Norton AntiVirus includes many tools that can be run in the background, including watching for suspicious PC activity and automatically checking downloaded files for viruses. Norton AntiVirus is also automatically configured to handle E-mail virus scanning for email messages coming into your computer, as well as those you send. This process automatically scans and cleans both incoming and outgoing email, stopping viruses from infecting your computer or spreading to others. It removes viruses automatically, without interrupting your work and prevents infections during real-time online chats, and also detects viruses in instant-message attachments. Because so many viruses and internet worms are now spread using email and Instant Message Systems, this is extremely valuable and necessary protection.

Norton Installation

Installation is simple. Simply install the CD in your CD drive, and the installer will launch automatically. The installer should ask you if you want to do a pre-install scan of your system for viruses. This is a very good thing to do. Once this is finished, the installation will proceed, and you can accept all the defaults without worry. Once the installation is complete, you'll be prompted to go online and get up-to-date virus definitions. DO NOT skip this step. Having up-to-date virus definitions is essential to the performance of any antivirus software.

Normal Use

Norton is a very hands-off program. Pretty much it is an install and forget program that looks after itself. It will automatically notify you if there is anything that you need to do. If a virus is found, the software will try to automatically repair the file, if it can't, it will place the file in a safe 'quarantine' zone, and let you know. In addition to looking for known viruses, the Norton Antivirus Bloodhound feature tries to spot new viruses and worms by their behaviour that is common to such nasty programs.

Checking your system and downloading updates are two things you need to do regularly. Norton Antivirus makes them painless by setting up a full system scan once a week and checking for new updates (both to the software, and virus definitions) whenever you're online. These simple update scans hardly slow down your PC down at all.

Overall, Norton Antivirus is an excellent way to guard against viruses. It is the system that I recommend to my clients most often, and that I use personally.

6 Antivirus Famous Made in Indonesia

Antivirus is a cure or in anticipation of computer virus attacks so that the virus does not infect computers that can be fatal to your computer, surely this is very frustrating for you, because you have important data can be lost or deleted by the virus, but this only applies  for those of you who are still using Windows OS and not Open Source like Linux, but for those of you who are still loyal to use windows OS then obliged to use the antivirus which of course can protect your computer from viruses, trojans, worms, phishing, etc. You are free to choose which ones you like Norton Antivirus, Norton Antivirus can be made in foreign and domestic, but I recommend to eradicate the virus must use antivirus locally made in Indonesia itself, as are many Antivirus us who have been recognized by Indonesia and even the world will be its ability to detect viruses and the like .  Below is a list of Antivirus Made in Indonesia's most widely used in Indonesia:

1.  PC Media Antivirus

Antivirus PCMAV is made by PCmedia magazine that began in early 2006, this is the antivirus antivirus the most widely used in Indonesia, given its ability is very good and very helpful at all, especially when my computer is infected with the virus, when I was using pcmav v4lkyr13 to  eradicate the virus / worm named win32 heur / win32 cekar, because a suitable antivirus to remove virus / worm is pcmav.  The weakness only in the long scanning time and can not be used on OS windows 98 have windows 2000 and above.     >> Download PCMAV

2.  SMADAV  Antivirus SMADAV is made in Indonesia which was launched in March 2007 and became famous in the early months of 2009, users increasingly smadav it all can not be separated by smadav efforts to renew the antivirus, antivirus advantage of this is the rapid process of scanning the computer and not a burden on computer memory , but it also smadav thoroughly clean all the viruses that have infected your computer and is currently capable of detecting approximately smadav 1500 registry location, and deficiencies can not completely remove the viruses imports, because the focus to deal with viruses that spread in Indonesia.   >> Download SMADAV

3.  Antivirus ANSAV  Antivirus ANSAV is made by an Indonesian company began popularized since October 2006 and is a competitor of Antivirus PCMAV the advance has been launched.  Antivirus is also quite widely used by Indonesian people, especially to eradicate the virus eagle, antivirus software has an advantage that is very sensitive to the virus that has infected a computer, but once there is a lack of data sometimes are already infected with the virus will also be deleted along with the virus.

>> Download ANSAV Antivirus

4.  Blue Atom Antivirus  Blue Atom Antivirus is an antivirus that is made by the child class XI E Stella Maris Catholic Junior High School, Surabaya, named Alvin Leonardo who were aged 14 Years, is already getting artificial antivirus guarantee 100% Clean from Softpedia.com on October 19, 2009, which makes  Alvin surprised this is not conduct courses or guidance programming language to make this antivirus, but he was self-taught by studying 3 languages ​​as well as the Visual Basic programming, C, and Assembler (ASMX 86), and according to IT experts who is also dean Prof FTIf ITS  Drs Ec Ir Riyanarto MSc PhD Sarno said that Alvin will be included in programming contests and its potential can be nurtured to become Hacker white science (WhiteHat).

>> Download Blue Atom Antivirus

5.  GUCUP Antivirus (Gav)  GUCUP Antivirus is one of the children's work which are well known Indonesian nation and even internationally, is made by Joseph Antivirus Theretsa Patiku, students of Information Engineering Program, University of Atma Jaya Yogyakarta.  Gav was made with Microsoft Visual Studio. Net 2003 with C # programming language, is also already got Antivirus guarantee 100% clean from Softpedia.com and can directly be downloaded there, the advantages of this antivirus is able to scan files as rar or zip archive, memory  scanning system, the scanning process quickly, could separate document files that have been infected with malware (for: Backdoor.Win32.Delf.axz, Trojan.Win32.Delf.aav, Worm.Win32.Delf.cd) and able to separate the application file /.exe  of malware (for: DeulleDo-X [2], Virus.Win32.Delf.bk).  And many more interesting features of this Antivirus.

>> Download GUCUP Antivirus (Gav)

6.  Antivirus AVIGEN  Antivirus is an antivirus AVIGEN made in Indonesia which has the advantage of antivirus software is able to find the files that have been infected with viruses such as worms, hacktool, exploit scripts, and Trojan horses.  The facility is located at AVIGEN registry tweaks, scans running processes, process viewer, autorun scan location and much more.  Antivirus addition has also been certified 100% clean of softpedia.com

>> Download AVIGEN Antivirus

List of the best antivirus in the world

Antivirus is an antidote to the virus or vaccine from malicious viruses that would destroy our computers, so it means for those of you who still use the Operating System ( OS ) Microsoft Windows is required to use antivirus software, in order not to crash your computer from malicious computer virus attacks.

In this world there are many kinds of antivirus ranging from Indonesia as well as domestically produced foreign made, ranging from free to paid all there, and free up to you want to choose which one. Following list of 10 best antiviruses in the world

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Key loggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, web full protection, usb auto detect. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download Bitdefender Antivirus

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Key loggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, web full protection, usb auto detect. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

 >> Download Kaspersky Antivirus

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, cookies, scripts, spam. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download Webroot Antivirus
 

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, scripts, web full protection, auto usb detect. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download Norton Antivirus 

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, scripts, web full protection, usb auto detect. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download ESET NOD32 Antivirus

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p / file sharing protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, identity theft protection, adware, activex , vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, web full protection, spam, usb auto detect. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32

>> Download AVG Antivirus

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, identity theft protection, adware, scripts, web full protection. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download G Data Antivirus

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, phishing, adware, activex, scripts, web full protection. 
3. Protection Technology: The virus signatures, heuristics, real-time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download Avira Antivir

SPECIFICATIONS AND RATES:

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: Browser exploits, OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protectionp2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phishing, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, usb auto detect. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real-time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download VIPRE Antivirus

SPECIFICATIONS

1. Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit. 
2. Additional Protection: OS exploits, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbound email protection, instant messaging protection, registry startup protection, dialers, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, usb auto detect. 
3. Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, real time, network security. 
4. Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit) 

>> Download the Trend Micro Antivirus Titanium