A type of malware used by cyber criminals. The malware is designed to enable the cyber criminal to make money off of the infected system (such as harvesting key strokes, using the infected systems to launch Denial of Service Attacks, etc.).
Crimeware is a class of malware designed specifically to automate cybercrime.
Crimeware (as distinct from spyware and adware) is designed to perpetrate identity theft through social engineering or technical stealth in order to access a computer user's financial and retail accounts for the purpose of taking funds from those accounts or completing unauthorized transactions that enrich the cyberthief. Alternatively, crimeware may steal confidential or sensitive corporate information. Crimeware represents a growing problem in network security as many malicious code threats seek to pilfer confidential information.
The term crimeware was coined by David Jevans in February 2005 in an Anti-Phishing Working Group response to the FDIC article "Putting an End to Account-Hijacking Identity Theft," which was published on December 14, 2004.
