spyware

[ spahy-wair ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Computers. software that is installed surreptitiously and gathers information about an internet user's browsing habits, intercepts the user's personal data, etc., transmitting this information to a third party:
a parent's use of spyware to monitor a child's online activities.
tools that are used to conduct espionage:
sophisticated spyware that rivals that of the CIA.

spyware

/ ˈspaɪˌwɛə /

computing software installed via the internet on a computer without the user's knowledge and used to send information about the user to another computer

Origin of spyware¹

First recorded in 1980–85; spy + -ware

But a bit of spyware injected into the activist movement may have been sent to do the trick.

They found that all the information captured by the spyware was sent to a remote server in Korea.

What they found was a piece of spyware siphoning data and creating audio files of voice calls.

At first, Stuxnet was thought to be spyware; its goal, industrial espionage.

A new poll reveals that 88 percent of Chinese internet users do not want the new spyware in their computers.

Who voted to put the cameras in our classrooms and follow us around with creepy spyware chips in our transit passes and cars?

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