[Techtalk] confused malware terminology? 'Trojan virus'

[Wim De Smet]

Hey,

On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 6:57 PM, Carla Schroder <carla at bratgrrl.com> wrote:
> http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article6841779.ece
>
> This story says "Cyber criminals have created a highly sophisticated Trojan
> virus that steals online banking log-in details from infected computers.."
> Isn't that mixing things up, I always understood Trojan horses and viruses to
> be different things.

They probably don't know the difference, but it could very well be
that this program incorporates elements of both. Lots of these things
use multiple attack vectors, i.e. they can get installed like a normal
trojan, but they can also function as a worm that actively scans the
network for vulnerable machines to infect. I think the distinction
used to make sense, but less and less so these days, now that a
virus/trojan/worm does not need to be so limited.

regards,
Wim