The Dutch High Tech Crime Team (THTC) of the National Crime Squad announced the dismantling of a dangerous botnet. This botnet is part of the Bredolab network, used by cyber-criminals to distribute malware on the computers of unwary users, infecting more than 30 million computers around the world.

How do Trojans work?
The main objective of this type of malware is to install other applications on the infected computer, so it can be controlled from other computers.

Trojans do not spread by themselves, and their name derives from the trick that the astute Greeks used to enter Troy in mythology: They reach computers hidden in an apparently inoffensive program, but in certain cases, when the application is run, a second program, the Trojan, infects the computer. This is a perfect example of a downloader-type Trojan.

What do Trojans do?
Like viruses, they can destroy files or information on hard disks. Yet they can also capture and forward confidential data to an external address or open communication ports, allowing intruders to remotely control your computer.

They can also capture keystrokes or record passwords entered by users. They are frequently used by cyber-criminals, for example, to steal bank details.

Means of infection:

  1. Cyber-crooks look for vulnerabilities on websites and, once they find them, inject malicious code into the page in order to compromise it.
  2. Trojans infect users’ computers as they access a compromised website. The Trojan triggers the infection directly without the user’s consent, or hides the malicious payload within other downloads carried out by the user.
  3. Once on the user’s computer, the Trojan opens a backdoor for downloading other malware, or opens a port to remotely control the system.

According to PandaLabs, more than 50% of the malware received this year was Trojans. This is logical given that Trojans are designed, by and large, for financial gain, and they offer the best ROI to their creators.

In this presentation you can find out if you are infected and how to keep yourself safe from trojan infections:

Remember, “The most destructive virus sits between the keyboard and the chair”.  Don’t become the weak link on your computer!!

And as always, don’t forget that to protect yourself it is essential to have an antivirus program installed and up-to-date with an anti-spam filter. Any Panda Security solution will keep your computer free from Trojans and other malware.