What characteristic describes a Trojan horse?
- malicious software or code running on an end device
- an attack that slows or crashes a device or network service
- the use of stolen credentials to access private data
- a network device that filters access and traffic coming into a network
Explanation: A Trojan horse is a specialized form of malware characterized by malicious software or code running on an end device that intentionally disguises itself as a legitimate program to deceive users. Unlike viruses which attach to existing host programs or worms which are standalone and self-propagating, Trojan horses rely on user interaction—such as opening an email attachment or executing a download—to be loaded and activated on a system. Once executed, the software can perform a variety of illegitimate actions, including the destruction of data, the theft of sensitive information, or the creation of unauthorized back doors that provide threat actors with persistent access to the compromised host. Because they present a harmful payload within a seemingly benign package, Trojan horses are considered a primary external security threat that exploits human trust rather than relying solely on technical system vulnerabilities.
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