cyberattack

noun

cy·​ber·​at·​tack ˈsī-bər-ə-ˌtak 

plural cyberattacks

: an attempt to gain illegal access to a computer or computer system for the purpose of causing damage or harm

An undermine-first strategy allows the United States government to intrude into adversaries' systems, exploiting this covert access to gather intelligence and occasionally to deliver a destructive cyberattack.

—Joshua A. Kroll

If your data is valuable enough, there is almost nothing you can do to provide total security against an expert adversary. Simply put, the attacker may be smarter than anyone you have defending the network. Cyberattacks are not only impossible to block, they're often difficult to detect; you may not even know you're under attack in the first place.

—Robert W. Lucky

cyberattacker

ˈsī-bər-ə-ˌta-kər 

noun

plural cyberattackers

Cyberattackers constantly evolve their skills and will always find new ways to attack—it's not a question of "if," but of "when."

—Eileen Dignen

Examples of cyberattack in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

With cyberattacks on the rise, small businesses are prime targets. —Nick Chandi, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025

Baltimore City was defrauded of over $1.5 million in a cyberattack and identity theft scheme, according to the City Comptroller’s Office. —Danny Tow, Baltimore Sun, 2 Apr. 2025

The limited series filmed mainly in New York, where De Niro resides, to capture the East Coast political setting for the thriller that follows the first-time TV actor’s former president being called back to service to investigate a catastrophic cyberattack called a zero-day event. —Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 27 Mar. 2025

In November 2024, a cyberattack on DP World, one of Australia’s largest port operators, forced the company to shut down operations across key terminals for three days. —Kolawole Samuel Adebayo, Forbes, 25 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1996, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cyberattack

• ammoniac
• biofeedback
• counterattack
• demoniac
• elegiac
• noncardiac
• paranoiac
• aback
• anzac
• attack
• backpack
• backtrack