Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics
From: Jason Coombs <jasonc () science org>
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:28:41 -1000
Chuck Fullerton wrote:
"A Trojan horse is a program that appears to have some useful or benign purpose, but really masks some hidden malicious functionality." "A Backdoor is a program that allows attackers to bypass normal securitycontrols on a system, gaining access on the attacker's own terms."
Here's an example of a completely flawed explanation of the origin of the term. The definition given claims that the warriors emerged from the horse and only those warriors overran the city. Obviously that isn't what happened in the Iliad, the Trojan Horse was used to get further access for other warriors. Furthermore, "overran the city" means of course that the Trojan Horse was used for the purpose of gaining control of the city, regardless of which warriors accomplished the objective.
Most (but not all) of you are suggesting that the only thing that matters is what the definitions say, and that's not the right way to look at this issue. A program that does something malicious when used is not a Trojan unless its malicious purpose fits with the story of the Trojan Horse as it is understood by non-computer people. This is why we don't call spyware Trojans any longer -- a distinction has been drawn, and that distinction has overrun the past usage of the term.
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci213221,00.htmlIn computers, a Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk. In one celebrated case, a Trojan horse was a program that was supposed to find and destroy computer viruses. A Trojan horse may be widely redistributed as part of a computer virus.
The term comes from Greek mythology about the Trojan War, as told in the Aeneid by Virgil and mentioned in the Odyssey by Homer. According to legend, the Greeks presented the citizens of Troy with a large wooden horse in which they had secretly hidden their warriors. During the night, the warriors emerged from the wooden horse and overran the city.
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Current thread:
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Jason Coombs (Aug 10)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics ASB (Aug 11)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Brian Anderson (Aug 11)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics J.A. Terranson (Aug 11)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Jason Coombs (Aug 11)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Valdis . Kletnieks (Aug 11)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Erik Kamerling (Aug 11)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Nick FitzGerald (Aug 11)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Jason Coombs (Aug 12)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Steve Friedl (Aug 12)
- [OT] (was Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics) J.A. Terranson (Aug 12)
- Re: Re: Help put a stop to incompetent computerforensics Steve Friedl (Aug 12)