I think the quote is not correct. The mentioned article says:
... and you have ActiveX security settings configured too low (or if you are running an out-of-date and/or unpatched version of Windows), the Trojan horse installs itself on your PC.
The Trojan horse then makes changes to the Hosts file...
So, its just another ActiveX trojan. When it's activated (which the antivirus shouldn't allow), it can do anything - including e.g. changing your HOSTS file.