Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🪤 A trigger wire ⚡ A trigger event 🖥️ A security tool 🪤 To set a trigger
tripwire

tripwire

6.5
A program that watches computer files and alerts if they change
  • noun
  • /ˈtrɪpˌwaɪər/
  • Specialized
: monitor de integridad de archivos
  • The security team installed a tripwire program to monitor any unauthorized changes to the system files.

Examples

  • The door is an electronically-controlled bolt lock with a magnetic tripwire that is triggered by opening the door.

    The Maiden Heist (2009)

  • Tripwires!

    The Brothers Grimm (2005)

  • In fact, we're just requiring some extra bytes to be sent for the tripwire code and that extra copy of the page to compare against on the throughput.

  • He had the Fire's search-and-scan routines set to a tripwire sensitivity these days; a lowly contract captain couldn't be too careful.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • A case in point is the widely used file system integrity checker called Tripwire (e.g., Kim and Spafford 1993), which maintains a database of digital signatures of numerous system files.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Using a tripwire tool, the company could detect any alterations made to sensitive data on their servers.

  • To safeguard against breaches, implementing a tripwire software ensures that any modification is immediately flagged.

Surface Forms

tripwire singular
tripwires plural

Morphology

tripwire = trip + wire (semi-transparent) = trip + wire

The software sense is a technical/metaphorical extension of the physical 'tripwire' device; parts hint at detecting/tripping but the domain-specific meaning requires technical knowledge.

Etymology

Tripwire is used for security programs by comparison with the physical device: just as a thin wire will ring an alarm when moved, a computer tripwire watches files and 'alerts' you if something changes. So a tripwire in computing is a tool that warns you about unexpected changes.