Trojan horses being used by 'financially-motivated hackers'

2009-08-25

Hackers are using Trojan horses a lot more now as they are motivated by financial factors, it has been claimed.

There is a lot of difference between a Trojan horse and the viruses that were seen in the past, explained senior technology consultant for Sophos Graham Cluley.

He noted that Trojan horses can be spammed out to you but once computers are infected the Trojan will not then be passed onto others.

"It may well compromise your computer and use your computer, but it doesn't make its presence so obvious that it goes around infecting everybody else as well," said Mr Cluley.

It is this surreptitiousness that financially-motivated hackers are drawn to, he added.

Mr Cluley's comments come after a report from PandaLabs indicated that malware use is on the rise.

The number of computers infected by malware designed to take confidential, personal or banking details has risen six-fold this year, in comparison to the same period last year.

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