Trojans and viruses

Trojans
A Trojan is a computer program that may seem innocent, but has been designed to damage your computer in some way, or send confidential information to another computer over the internet.

Fraudsters can use Trojans to record your activities on the internet (sometimes known as keylogging), without you knowing. They can then find out sign-in details for online banking, and access your account.

Some Trojans are designed to display a dialog box when you visit certain websites, such as online banking sites. The dialog box pops up in front of the website, asking you to enter your sign-in details. It looks like you are logging in, when in fact you are sending your confidential information to the fraudsters.

We would never ask for your sign-in details in a pop-up window or dialogue box. If you are asked to complete your sign-in details in a format which appears to be different to our standard sign-in page, it's probably because of a Trojan (or an attempt at phishing).

 

Viruses
A virus is a computer program that is installed onto your computer without your knowledge, with the intention of doing something malicious. This can range from making your computer behave strangely (playing music or displaying messages) to changing or deleting files, or even wiping the contents of your hard disk.

Viruses are designed to replicate themselves when they are run, so that every part of your computer becomes infected. If your system is infected, you can easily spread the virus to others through sharing disks or sending email attachments.

To keep your system free of viruses, use anti-virus software and keep it updated.