Trojan horse

1. Something that initially seems innocuous but is ultimately bad or malicious. A reference to the myth in which Ancient Greek soldiers hid inside a giant wooden horse in order to gain access to the city of Troy. That personable new hire turned out to be a Trojan horse—she stole our intellectual property and sold it to the competitor!

2. A computer program that appears to be useful or harmless but secretly installs malicious code or software onto the infected computer. We have malware on our computer because that game you downloaded turned out to be a Trojan horse.

See also: horse, Trojan

a Trojan horse

COMMON If you describe someone or something as a Trojan horse, you mean that they seem good or useful, but are really there to help something be harmed or destroyed in the future. Proposals for a golf course are now seen as a Trojan Horse for hotel and conference centres. This small reduction in the basic tax rate was merely a Trojan horse for the far more drastic cutting of the top rate from 70 to 28 per cent. Note: This refers to an ancient Greek story. The city of Troy was under siege from the Greeks. The Greeks built a large hollow wooden horse and left it secretly as a gift for the Trojans, who took it into the city. However, Greek soldiers were hiding inside the horse, and they were able to cause the destruction of the city.

See also: horse, Trojan

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

a Trojan horse

1 a person or device intended to undermine an enemy or bring about their downfall. 2 a program designed to breach the security of a computer system, especially by ostensibly functioning as part of a legitimate program, in order to erase, corrupt, or remove data.

In Greek mythology, the Trojan horse was a huge hollow wooden statue of a horse in which Greek soldiers concealed themselves in order secretly to enter and capture the city of Troy, an action which brought the ten-year siege of the city to an end.

See also: horse, Trojan

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

trojan horse

n. a kind of malicious software that arrives at a personal computer embedded in some other software and then introduces routines that can gather personal information or destroy the operationality of the computer. The consultant called the intruder a “trojan horse” and said I needed yet another program to get rid of it.

See also: horse, Trojan

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References in periodicals archive

The description "trojan horse organizer" has been used by management advocates as a way of highlighting the "threat" these organizers pose to management.

Are trojan horse union organizers "employees?": a new look at deference to the NLRB's interpretation of NLRA section 2(3)

It added: "Those who dispute what happened in Trojan Horse cannot legitimately dispute the facts and findings of the 2014 Kershaw and Clarke inquiries which include the following key points, which must not be forgotten."

No doubts Trojan Horse did happen insists the council

Does this Trojan horse indicate its presence by asking for an administrator's password?

The real threat of the Oompa-Loompa Trojan horse, Intego

On why he had banned the term "Trojan Horse", Sir Mike said: "The term that was originally used about the letter is not in official use now.

Trojan Horse plot 'hit exam results' in affected schools

do you keep important company records or files on this computer you'd better hope not because there are files scattered all over it tucked away in invisible hidden folders undetectable by antivirus software the only way to remove them and this message is by a CIDN number 1 The Trojan horse continues to explain that a 'CIDN number' can be acquired by making a payment via Western Union to the hacker.

Ransom Trojan horse demands money with menaces

'Trojan horses, which cannot spread on their own, account for roughly two-thirds of all reported malware.

Top ten viruses reported to Sophos in February

Education Secretary Justine Greening said the Trojan Horse affair, when teachers and others attempted to introduce an "intolerant" religious ethos into Birmingham schools, was "a shocking wakeup call".

New teacher disciplinary procedure to deal with 'Trojan Horse' attempts

Golden Hillock was one of five Birmingham schools plunged into special measures after snap inspections by Ofsted - sparked by the emergence of the so-called Operation Trojan Horse plot.

School's fightback after THETROJAN Horse scandal; New principal reveals key to turning school around after 'Islamist plot'

The Haxdoor-IN Trojan horse has been spammed out to computer users via a link in an email message, which offers a free wallchart for football fans who wish to follow their favourite teams in the International football tournament.

World Cup wallchart Trojan horse

The row about LGBT teaching in primary schools is fundamentally a repeat of the Trojan Horse controversy, according to the expert who predicted it could happen.

LGBT row is 'Trojan Horse again'

The row about LGBT teaching in primary schools is fundamentally a repeat of the Trojan Horse controversy - says the expert who predicted it could happen.

LGBT teaching row 'like Trojan Horse'

THE row about LGBT teaching in Birmingham primary schools is fundamentally a repeat of the Trojan Horse controversy, claims the expert who predicted it would happen.

LGBT row is Trojan Horse part 2; Academic argues lessons of Birmingham schools scandal have not been learnt

A "TROJAN horse" drug which attacks tumour cells from within may offer new hope to cancer patients with few options left, researchers say.

Cancer hope with 'Trojan Horse' drug; SCIENCE

'TROJAN HORSE ANTIBIOTIC' A NEW antibiotic which acts as a "Trojan horse" has proved effective against drug-resistant bacteria, researchers have said.

HEALTH NOTES

Poor dental hygiene in kids may indicate overall neglect 'TROJAN HORSE ANTIBIOTIC' A NEW antibiotic which acts as a "Trojan horse" has proved effective against drug-resistant bacteria, researchers have said.

HEALTH NOTES