Trojan Horse steals Windows passwords

A 'Trojan Horse' program that steals passwords to gain access to networks and Internet service providers (ISP) is at large, according to anti-virus specialist, Doctor Solomon's.

Affecting Windows NT and Windows 95 users for the first time, the Trojan Horse hides itself as an email attachment or an otherwise friendly application. Once this has happened, network passwords are emailed back to the sender of the program.

Graham Cluely, senior technical consultant at Dr Solomon's, explained that the problem comes from dial-up networking. "If someone gets your passwords they can then 'become' you," he said. "The password can be changed and the 'new you' can purchase over the Internet and spend your money - the damage could be endless."

Known technically as a password stealer and not a virus, only a few occurrances have been reported to date. The problem originally affected only America Online but now threatens all ISPs.

Microsoft is reported to be telling users to practise 'safe computing' to deal with the problem.