Spyware
nouncandidate·updated May 9, 2026
Software that is secretly or surreptitiously installed into an information system to gather information on individuals or organizations without their knowledge; a type of malicious code.
Framework senses
National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (NICCS) Cybersecurity Lexicon1 senseview framework →
- §1
- Software that is secretly or surreptitiously installed into an information system without the knowledge of the system user or owner.
- §1
- Software whose purpose is to monitor a computer user’s actions (e.g., web sites visited) and report these actions to a third party, without the informed consent of that machine’s owner or legitimate user Scope Note: A particularly malicious form of spyware is software that monitors keystrokes to obtain passwords or otherwise gathers sensitive information such as credit card numbers, which it then transmits to a malicious third party. The term has also come to refer more broadly to software that subverts the computer’s operation for the benefit of a third party.
- §1
- Software that is secretly or surreptitiously installed into an information system to gather information on individuals or organizations without their knowledge; a type of malicious code.
- §1
- Software that is secretly or surreptitiously installed into an information system to gather information on individuals or organizations without their knowledge; a type of malicious code.
- §1
- Software that is secretly or surreptitiously installed into an information system to gather information on individuals or organizations without their knowledge; a type of malicious code.