The Trojan Horse Virus: Malware's Sneaky Way of Gaining System Access

Did you know that there’s malware out there that looks exactly like legitimate Windows files, such as DLLs? This clever trojan horse can fool even the most tech-savvy of users! It’s not easy to spot, but it will cause serious problems if it manages to make its way onto your computer. Read on to learn more about this sneaky malware and how you can avoid becoming infected with it in the future.


The Trojan Horse Virus: Malware's Sneaky Way of Gaining System Access



What Is A Troj/Qhost-C?

Trojan.Qhost-C is a Trojan horse program, which is malicious software that appears to perform one function, but in fact performs another, different function. The secondary function of a Trojan horse is to gain access to your system and allow an attacker to control your computer. When you run a Trojan horse, it opens a backdoor entry point into your system and installs other malicious programs onto your computer such as viruses or worms that can steal your personal information or change critical settings on your system such as security software.


How Did I Get Infected?

Trojan horse viruses are classified as malware. They're designed to look like legitimate files, but in reality they aren't what they appear to be. A trojan horse virus is particularly dangerous because you might not know it exists on your system until it attacks by stealing your identity or disabling your system without warning. Trojan horses can be delivered via emails, downloads, and a host of other ways that enable hackers to get around firewalls. Even if you have a security program running, there's always a chance it won't pick up a virus before it has time to activate. Learn more about how Trojan horse viruses work and what you can do to protect yourself from these sneaky attacks


Why Didn't Security Software Detect This?

Trojan horses are especially pernicious because they can gain access to a system without triggering an antivirus program. In a nutshell, trojans fool your computer into believing that you've installed an innocuous piece of software when, in fact, it has planted a malicious payload on your machine. For example, Trojan.Qhost-C is a trojan horse that masquerades as an audio driver update (don't trust unsolicited downloads!). The virus then installs itself and automatically launches when you turn on your computer. Once it's activated, Trojan.Qhost-C reports back to its source and is capable of logging keystrokes, capturing screenshots, taking pictures with your webcam—even turning on video calls! All without triggering antivirus software!


What Does The Program Do Now That It Has Full Access To My Computer?

Full access on your computer isn't quite as sinister as it sounds. A Trojan horse program has all rights to do anything it wants to with your system. The best protection against a Trojan horse virus is to have an anti-virus program, such as Norton AntiVirus or McAfee VirusScan, installed on your computer so that it can be scanned every time you start up and run. This will help make sure that any traces of Trojans are cleaned out before they can do any damage.


Can I Remove Trojan.Qhost-C Without Rebooting My Computer?

Trojan.Qhost-C is a Trojan horse virus that opens an unexpected pop-up on a computer while it’s running, which can be somewhat annoying to deal with. In order to remove Trojan.Qhost-C without rebooting your computer, you’ll need to download and install a reputable anti-virus program such as AVG AntiVirus Free or Avast Free Antivirus, then run a full system scan. After following these instructions, Trojan.Qhost-C should be removed from your system entirely.


What Happens If I Reboot My Computer?

In order to truly understand what a trojan horse is, we first need to understand how it attacks your system. Unlike most viruses and malware, which infect your system through direct interaction with a file, trojans use a different method called social engineering. Trojans rely on tricking users into opening an infected file or downloading a seemingly innocent attachment. Since these types of attacks can happen over email or social media channels, you might think that they're difficult to avoid—and you'd be right. Unfortunately, there are no surefire ways to make sure that you never receive an infected document on your computer.


Is There Any Way To Prevent This In The Future?

Internet security experts advise following several best practices to keep your system secure against Trojans and other malware. First, avoid clicking on links or downloading files sent by unknown senders; hackers often use these tactics to infiltrate unsuspecting users' systems. Second, protect your computer with a firewall and be wary of giving out your password; Trojans can frequently install themselves onto computers even if they don't have administrative privileges. If you’re concerned about malware infiltrating your computer, scan it immediately with an up-to-date virus scanner such as Symantec Norton AntiVirus.


Who Should Be Concerned About Troj/Qhost-C?

The Troj/Qhost-C malware presents a serious threat to users and businesses. The malware is part of a larger Trojan family known as Sality that has been found to infect users through drive-by downloads, email attachments, peer-to-peer file sharing networks, free software download sites and more. Once infected with Troj/Qhost-C , your computer will be infected with other Trojans and viruses. As a result, you may experience system slowdowns, random crashes or even data loss. If you think your system may have been infected with Troj/Qhost-C , it’s important to contact your IT professional immediately for help isolating and removing any potential threats before they take root on your network.


How Common Is This Problem?

Although Trojans are among malware's oldest cousins, they remain one of its most common issues. According to a 2014 study by security firm AV-TEST, 3% to 5% of all malware targets PCs. In other words, out of every 10 computers infected with malicious software, at least one will have a Trojan on it. By comparison, worms—which create an actual door for hackers to enter your computer—are rarer than Trojans. The two main types of worms are logic bombs and botnets; unlike Trojans, which sit idly on machines until activated by hackers, these malicious programs actively search for ways to spread themselves from machine to machine until there is nothing left but empty space.


Resources For Additional Information

The application icon will display as a double-headed arrow and have the name Trojan.Qhost-C or Trojan.Qhost. This infection may also install a series of files with random file names in %System% and write an autorun entry in all root folders to ensure that it is executed when you restart your computer, thus making it difficult to delete manually. It may also attempt to download more malicious files from its Web site onto your system. Trojans are often bundled with other free software that you download off of untrusted sites or spam email attachments, so be sure to check what you're downloading before using any third-party applications on your computer, as they could be infected.

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