trojan horse
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (3)
- a large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) left by the Greeks outside Troy during the Trojan WarSynonyms: Wooden HorseInstance of figure
- a subversive group that supports the enemy and engages in espionage or sabotage; an enemy in your midstSynonyms: fifth columnType of unit, social unitMembers fifth columnist, saboteur
- a program that appears desirable but actually contains something harmful“the contents of a trojan can be a virus or a worm”“when he downloaded the free game, it turned out to be a trojan horse”Synonyms: trojanType of malevolent program
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: from the incident described in Homer's Iliad.
1. Classical mythology a large hollow wooden horse built by Greek soldiers besieging Troy during the Trojan War, and left as a “gift” when they pretended to abandon their seige. It was taken into the city by the Trojans, and Greek soldiers concealed inside came out and opened the gates to the city, enabling the capture of the city by the Greeks. [ + ]
2. Hence, any thing or person which appears harmless but is designed to destroy or attack from within. It may sometimes refer to a group; — see also fifth column. [ + ]
3. Computers A computer program designed to evade the security precautions within a computer system and perform illicit operations, or to do malicious damage, and often designed to look like a different kind of program, such as a game, archiver, or directory lister. This term is not applied to a program that replicates itself, such as a virus. [ + ]
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: GCIDE editors, RP
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
<application, security> (Or just "trojan") A term coined by MIT-hacker-turned-NSA-spook Dan Edwards for a malicious, security-breaking program that is disguised as something benign, such as a directory lister, archiver, game or (in one notorious 1990 case on the Mac) a program to find and destroy viruses! A Trojan horse is similar to a back door.
See also RFC 1135, worm, phage, mockingbird. [Jargon File]
(2008-06-19)
The Jargon File
[coined by MIT-hacker-turned-NSA-spook Dan Edwards] A malicious security-breaking program that is disguised as something benign, such as a directory lister, archiver, game, or (in one notorious 1990 case on the Mac) a program to find and destroy viruses! See back door, virus, worm , phage, mockingbird.