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Cybersecurity vocabulary · Malware

Spyware

Meaning in cybersecurity, with examples

nounCommon term

In cybersecurity, spyware means: Malware that secretly watches what a user does and collects information such as browsing habits, messages, passwords or location.

In Turkish: casus yazılım

How it is used

Used both for simple programs that track browsing and for advanced commercial tools that target mobile phones. Like malware, it is uncountable: 'a piece of spyware'. Related words are adware and stalkerware.

Example sentences

  1. The mobile team found spyware on two executives' phones during the review.

  2. This browser extension behaves like spyware: it sends every visited URL to a third party.

Common collocations

  • mobile spyware
  • commercial spyware
  • spyware infection
  • detect spyware
  • malwareShort for 'malicious software': any program written to damage systems, steal data, spy on users or take control of a device without permission.
  • keyloggerSoftware or a small hardware device that secretly records every key a user presses, often to capture passwords and private messages.
  • trojanMalware disguised as a useful or harmless program, such as a free tool or a document, that secretly performs harmful actions once it is run.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Malware

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