| 1. | Classical Mythology. a gigantic hollow wooden horse, left by the Greeks upon their pretended abandonment of the siege of Troy. The Trojans took it into Troy and Greek soldiers concealed in the horse opened the gates to the Greek army at night and conquered the city. |
| 2. | a person or thing intended to undermine or destroy from within. |
| 3. | a nonreplicating computer program planted illegally in another program to do damage locally when the software is activated. |
| Trojan horse n.
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In classical mythology, a large, hollow horse made of wood used by the Greeks to win the Trojan War. The resourceful Odysseus had come up with the plan for the horse. The Greeks hid soldiers inside it and left it outside the gates of Troy. They anchored their ships just out of sight of Troy and left a man behind to say that the goddess Athena would be pleased if the Trojans brought the horse inside the city and honored it. The Trojans took the bait, against the advice of Cassandra and Laocoon. That night the Greek army returned to Troy. The men inside the horse emerged and opened the city gates for their companions. The Greeks sacked the city, thus winning the war.
Note: The story of the Trojan horse is the source of the saying “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”
trojan horse
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Trojan horse 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.
[The Jargon File]
(2008-06-19)
