: software that is installed in a computer or mobile device without the user's knowledge and that transmits information about the user's activities
Jan should scan her computer for viruses, worms, and spyware …—
Kenneth Baldauf and Ralph Stair
Kenneth Baldauf and Ralph StairSmartphones belonging to more than three dozen journalists, human rights activists, and business executives have been infected with powerful spyware that an Israeli firm sells, purportedly to catch terrorists and criminals, The Washington Post and other publications reported.—Dan Goodin
Dan GoodinExamples of spyware in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Opening a malicious attachment could install spyware or ransomware.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 9 Oct. 2025
His security forces had installed Pegasus, the Israeli spyware, on the phones of some reporters, according to interviews and an investigation by researchers from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.
—T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, 30 Sep. 2025
News reports raise questions about how those tools are deployed, the oversight governing commercial spyware and data-broker services, and the operational timelines for bringing complex systems into active use.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 19 Sep. 2025
The tech giant has built in a feature called Memory Integrity Enforcement, which is designed to stop attacks targeting memory corruption bugs, often exploited by spyware developers and phone forensic tools used by law enforcement, TechCrunch reports.
—Thomas Brewster, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
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Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 9 Oct. 2025
His security forces had installed Pegasus, the Israeli spyware, on the phones of some reporters, according to interviews and an investigation by researchers from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.
—T. Christian Miller, ProPublica, 30 Sep. 2025
News reports raise questions about how those tools are deployed, the oversight governing commercial spyware and data-broker services, and the operational timelines for bringing complex systems into active use.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 19 Sep. 2025
The tech giant has built in a feature called Memory Integrity Enforcement, which is designed to stop attacks targeting memory corruption bugs, often exploited by spyware developers and phone forensic tools used by law enforcement, TechCrunch reports.
—Thomas Brewster, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for spyware
Cite this Entry
“Spyware.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spyware. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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