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RATS

What? Rats? Those pesky black things that always cause damage in the house. Very cute to look still very destructive all the same. This is supposed to be a site on Internet Security not household and pest management. So why all this here?

Put your thoughts aside for a while and let me continue. I am not talking about the above rats. This is in continuation on what the uninitiated call as Trojans which I had hinted upon in my earlier article and what the refined call as Remote Administrative Tools or RATS. Trojans can be very destructive if you're not careful. So tighten your seat belts as we gear up for take-off.

To define Trojans, we refresh our knowledge of a virus. A virus is a self-replicating piece of code designed to cause damage or irritation. Trojans assume much greater risk proportions. As the name RATS suggest, they allow a remote user to operate your PC sitting thousands of miles away via the Internet. Surprised? No need to be. The Internet today imparts such power that even a lame user can do this to you.

Note: Lame means a user possessing limited knowledge. In other words, a naive user, not a professional.

Evolution

Every thing has a beginning. This is the most basic principle of evolution. Trojans evolved from what can be termed as an exploitation of a basic administrative need. When Internet began to spread its wings in late 90s, corporations found the regional barriers too small for comfort. They wanted to expand their horizons. For this, they needed a software which could help in remote management of resources. Wherein a person can manage all the company resources spread across the world. Microsoft, as it always does, recognized this need and came up with a software package Microsoft Back Office.

The Underground was quick to pounce upon this thought. It is a fundamental rule in computing (or for anything) that Nothing is perfect. There are always some loopholes left open for exploitation. The Underground  came up with what can be branded as the first Trojan known as Back Orifice (a lash at Microsoft). This had limited remote administrative powers still it pioneered the Underground  in this direction. Today Back Orifice remains as one of the all-time powerful Trojan. It is managed by Cult Of Dead Cow (www.cultofdeadcow.com). Many soon followed suite and the next popular one was Netbus. 

Today, Trojans impart a lot of power and are extremely easy to use. In the next article, we will try to classify Trojans based on their remote administrating prowess. Till then adieu.

Trojans-The Beginning Read on to know more about the supreme tool of novice and advanced hacking. The tool that got through Microsoft's defense. One that can create havoc on your PC also. This is just the beginning.      

– Mayur Kamat
March 19, 2000

The Worms on the Net     
Security: A Futile Endeavor!    
Glossary of TCP/IP Terms     
Remote Admin Tools     
Hacking     
TCP/IP – The Entire Net Runs On A Set of Rules    
Telnet    
Internet Warfare     
RATS    
Type of RATS   
Trojans - The Method of Infection   
Subseven – Beware of this one!  
Port Scanners   
What is Hacking? by Anup Gaurav
 
Virus Related Articles
The Anatomy of a Virus 
Viruses - Types & Examples
Symptoms of Virus Infection
Kak Worm - An Internet Virus 
Melissa   
W95.MTX    

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