A "Trojan horse" is someone or something that subverts from within. It can also refer to anything that is deceptive. The phrase is based on a Greek myth about how Greek soldiers managed to get into the city of Troy to destroy it. After laying siege to Troy for a terribly long time, the Greeks finally came up with a scheme. They built a huge, hollow wooden horse, hid soldiers inside it, then got in their ships and pretended to be retreating.
When the Trojans came out to their abandoned camp to investigate and saw the wooden horse, they dragged it into their city, believing it to be sacred to the goddess Athena. That night, the Greek soldiers tiptoed out of the horse and opened the gates to the city for the rest of the Greek army to enter. That was the end of Troy. This story is also the origin of the expression "beware of Greeks bearing gifts."
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