🦠 An organism living on another 🧑‍🦯 A person who exploits 💻 A harmful program

parasite

1 7.2

A hidden program that adds itself to another program to steal or control data

noun
/ˈpærəˌsaɪt/

Specialized

: parásito informático

The antivirus software successfully detected and removed the hidden parasite from the computer.

Examples

Many computers were infected by a parasite that spread through malicious email attachments.
My parasite is consuming all the new memory.

Game 6 (2006)
Can we get rid of the electronic parasites?

Switching Channels (1988)
A self-aware, self-learning, truth-eating digital parasite infesting all of cyberspace.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
After running the security check, we discovered a parasite that was stealing personal information.

Synonyms

worm

vsparasite

Specialized

19 7.4

A program that copies itself and spreads across computers to cause harm

is code that lives inside other programs to persist or steal data

Antonyms

authorized

123 3.6

Having official permission to do something

Compounds

malaria parasite

Specialized

1 4.1

A very small single cell that lives in human blood, spreads by mosquito bites and causes malaria

parasite yew

9.9

A rare endangered tree from New Caledonia that grows on another tree and takes food and water from it

pond-scum parasite

Specialized

9.9

A small fungus that lives on and harms algae in ponds

How Harmful

worm

Specialized

19 7.4

trojan

Texting

2 8.2

parasite

Specialized

1 7.2

spyware

Specialized

21 4.8

adware

Specialized

2 4.4

Surface Forms

parasite singular

parasites plural

Etymology

Parasite comes from Greek parts para- ('beside', as in parallel) and sitos ('food'), which gave the image of someone living at another's table. In computing a parasite follows that picture: it attaches to another program and uses it or steals its data.