Akademik

n.

A software program that surreptitiously sends data to an individual or a company when the computer on which the program is installed is connected to the Internet.

"A computer with an always-on connection has a permanent IP address, which makes it especially vulnerable to hackers, 'Trojan horses' or so-called 'Spyware' attacks. Traditional firewall products are unable to intercept rogue software inadvertently introduced by trusted users via email or other methods. Once this type of unknown application installs itself on a PC, it can initiate an Internet connection without the user's knowledge and send data back out over the Internet, allowing hackers to commit fraud."

— Business Wire, January 26, 2000