Question about Trojan

[epath13]

OK, I might sound like an imbecile but still, bear with me

I know that you can get Trojan by downloading something you're not supposed to but how else can you get it?
Here's the reason why I ask, I was on some forum, left the page open and went to ...I don't remember ...get a cup of coffee or something... when I returned I had a security alert on my screen (from my Norton) that Trojan has just been removed ...something like that. Nothing else was open, so my question is: how the hell could it happen?

 

[King_Oni]

Trojan' are not only in "illegal" downloads.

Trojans (or any virus) can be anywhere, they could be scripted in the code of a website as well. You could've obtained it through mail (which is the same kind of script-thing used if you open a document from an unknown source in your mailbox). BUt yes, if you're looking at websites, there is no "I don't want to download this site"... in order for you to see it, your machine has to temporary download said html file and actually open it.

However, I've found out that over years, I've ran into a lot of trojan warnings, which weren't really trojans, but rather mallware that wanted to get in (debatable if that's not a trojan of course). Those got my anti-virus software ringing code red as well. But yeah.. could've been a thing that is recognized as a trojan but actually wasn't one.

If it were site I'd frequent (for instance here) and that would happen... I'd contact the admin, if it were a site I rarely go to, I'd probably not go there anymore. But still keep Norton running.

 

[epath13]

Thanks, I might alarm the admin, I kinda like that place. Usually I get warnings in the browser that a page is not safe but this time it was weird. And next time I probably should close everything before I leave the computer for a long time

 

[superboyian]

Thanks, I might alarm the admin, I kinda like that place. Usually I get warnings in the browser that a page is not safe but this time it was weird. And next time I probably should close everything before I leave the computer for a long time

It could be very possible that the ads they were running was unfortunately a virus infected ad which can happen in most cases.
I definitely would go with the idea of mentioning it to the admins.

 

[epath13]

It could be very possible that the ads they were running was unfortunately a virus infected ad which can happen in most cases.
I definitely would go with the idea of mentioning it to the admins.

Yeah... it might the case actually

 

[epath13]

Here's what admin replied "Trojans aren't coming from this site/ads from Google.
If you are getting warnings, it may be that you have malware installed on your computer which actually hijacks ads and serves you malicious content that way. "
After I checked where the Trojan was located (I should have done it right away ) I figured that he might have been right... Eh well, it's all gone now

Very typical behaviour of mine, panic ...well ok maybe not panic... Overreact for no reason, "oh My God, Trojans are coming Trojans are coming, they are sitting on websites and waiting to jump on you through the internets" yeah...

 

[kg4fxg]

Not sure if I can get them on a Mac? But I still fear any viruses.
B

 

[anthoskate]

Could it be this: Trojan:Java/Openconnection

 

[Sev]

Not sure if I can get them on a Mac? But I still fear any viruses.
B

It's simply a myth that macs do not get viruses. They just aren't as popular as windows. Why would a hacker spend time developing trojans/etc for anything but the most popular operating system? Though, now after several years of that "apple frenzy" malware is designed to be more flexible.

It could be very possible that the ads they were running was unfortunately a virus infected ad which can happen in most cases.
I definitely would go with the idea of mentioning it to the admins.

Unless you actively give permissions to page's use of java (which should be unnecessary for most forum sites) or click on one of those ads, you won't get infected. If malware was strong enough to not have to rely on the user to fail in some way, they wouldn't need to use ads to begin with.

OK, I might sound like an imbecile but still, bear with me

I know that you can get Trojan by downloading something you're not supposed to but how else can you get it?
Here's the reason why I ask, I was on some forum, left the page open and went to ...I don't remember ...get a cup of coffee or something... when I returned I had a security alert on my screen (from my Norton) that Trojan has just been removed ...something like that. Nothing else was open, so my question is: how the hell could it happen?

If you're running any decent mainstream internet browser like chrome, firefox, safari, or internet explorer, its highly unlikely that the trojan came from the "open webpage". Such pieces of malware need to be actively executed by the system for them to be threat. It its possible you encountered a different type of malware through the forum however, if, for example, you clicked "allow java on this site", or some other function like java, then its quite possible that this happened. Seeing as you were away from the keyboard, this is unlikely.

Furthermore, just because Norton removed a trojan at the time you had the forums open, does not, mean the webpage gave you the virus. It simply means the virus became active at the time you had the page open. You could have accidentally downloaded the virus years ago and it could have remained in a frozen state until activated by a hacker, or something else. A frozen virus, one that isn't active, can be hard to detect.