What Is a Trojan Horse? | Wonderopolis

Taking the Trojans by surprise in the middle of the night, the Greeks were able finally to conquer Troy. Today, the term “Trojan horse" is still used to refer ... WhatIsaTrojanHorse?|Wonderopolis WesentyouSMS,forcompletesubscriptionpleasereply. Home Explorewonders Whatareyouwondering? CampWonderopolis Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook Home Explorewonders Whatareyouwondering? CampWonderopolis WonderswithCharlie Privacy About Contact Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook LANGUAGEARTS—Literature HaveYouEverWondered... WhatisaTrojanhorse? WhatepicpoemcontainsthestoryoftheTrojanhorse? Whatmightamodern-dayTrojanhorselooklike? Tags: SeeAllTags Aeneid, ancient, battle, computer, culturesoftheworld, deceive, deception, disguise, fake, Greece, Greek, history, horse, language, malware, myth, Odysseus, technology, trick, Trojan, Troy, Virgil, war   Today'sWonderoftheDaytakesusonatripwaybacktothetimeoftheTrojanWar.AstoldinVirgil'sAeneid,afamousepicpoem,theGreekshadtriedtoconquertheancientcityofTroyandtheTrojanpeoplewholivedthereforover10years.Theyfinallysucceeded,thankstoadeviousbitoftrickery.TheGreeks,undertheguidanceofOdysseus,builtahugewoodenhorse—thehorsewasthesymbolofthecityofTroy—andleftitatthegatesofTroy.Theythenpretendedtosailaway.TheTrojansbelievedthehugewoodenhorsewasapeaceofferingtotheirgodsandthusasymboloftheirvictoryafteralongsiege.Theypulledthegiantwoodenhorseintothemiddleofthecity.Theydidn'trealizethattheGreekshadhiddenaselectgroupofsoldiersinsidethehorse.Thatnight,aftertheTrojanshadgonetobed,theGreeksoldiersinsidethehorsewereabletogetoutandopenthegatesofthecitytoletintheremainderoftheGreekarmy,whichhadsailedbackunderthecoverofnight.TakingtheTrojansbysurpriseinthemiddleofthenight,theGreekswereablefinallytoconquerTroy.Today,theterm“Trojanhorse"isstillusedtorefertoanykindofdeceptionortrickthatinvolvesgettingatargetwillinglytoallowanenemyintoasecureplace.TheTrojanhorseisalsothesourceofthenickname“Trojans"forcomputerprograms—calledmalware—thatcaninfectcomputersystems.Manyoftheseharmfulprogramsappeartobeusefulormerelyharmlessprograms.Inthisway,theyconvinceuserstoinstallandrunthem,notrealizingwhatharmtheycandooncethey'reinstalled. WonderWords(17) secure epic infect install deception device suspicious conquer ancient devious trickery guidance malware console Trojan siege scenario TaketheWonderWordChallenge WonderWhat'sNext? Evenanappleadaywon’tkeeptomorrow’sWonderoftheDayaway! TryItOut WouldyoufallfortheoldTrojanhorsetricktoday?Probablynot…especiallyifyouhadsomegoodfriendsandfamilymembersbyyourside!Roundupafewofthosetohelpyoucheckoutoneormoreofthefollowingactivities: DoyoulikereadingtheancientGreekmyths?It'samazinghowmuchoftoday'spopularculture,includingoldsayings,comefromtheseoldstories.JumponlineandhavesomefuntodayreadingthroughSomeGreatGreekMyths!Whichareyourfavorites?Why?CanyouidentifyanyoldsayingsormodernpopculturereferencesthatgottheirstartinanancientGreekmyth? WouldaTrojanhorseworktoday?Whatdoyouthink?Ifyoureceivedagiantwoodenhorseonyourdoorstep,wouldn'tyoubejustaweebitsuspicious?Probably!Butwhattypeofgiftmightyoureadilyreceive?Ifyouopenedyourdoorandfounda…what?Avideogameconsole?Anewcellphone?Alife-sizemodelofyourfavoritepopstar?Whatwouldittakeforyoutoopenyourarmsandwelcomeitintoyourhouse?Ofcourse,suchitemswouldn'tholdanarmy.Butwhatcouldtheyhold?Alisteningdevice?Ahiddenvideocamera?Asuper-secretbrainscannerfromthefuture?Yikes!ThinkaboutwhataTrojanhorsemightlookliketodayandwriteashortstoryexplaininghowitmightwork.Whenyou'refinished,postyourstorytoFacebookforallyourWonderFriendstoread.Wecan'twaittoseehowcreativeyouare! Upforachallenge?TheNationalScienceCenter(NSC)hascreatedafungametohelpchildrenofallageslearnaboutcybersecurity,includinghowtorecognizemalwareandnotfallpreytocomputer“trojans."Doyousurftheweb,useemail,orusecellphones?ThenlearntostaysafewithNSCCyberSecuritytactics.TestyourskillagainstCyberSwarm!UseDefenderstostopthemintheirtracks!Theseguysmeanbusinesswhenitcomestomessingwithcybersecurity.Learnhowtobeatthemattheirowngame. Didyougetit? Testyourknowledge WonderWords secure epic infect install deception device suspicious conquer ancient devious trickery guidance malware console Trojan siege scenario TaketheWonderWordChallenge YouGotIt! Continue NotQuite! TryAgain http://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-is-a-trojan-horse ©NationalCenterforFamiliesLearning(NCFL)