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

This is not the American health care system’s first crippling cyberattack, of course. —Erika Fry, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2024

The spokesperson did not disclose how much the health giant paid after the cyberattack, which shut down operations at hospitals and pharmacies for more than a week. —Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 23 Apr. 2024

Such a conflict will be fought with cyberattacks, disinformation, and psychological warfare. —Joe Mathews, The Mercury News, 19 Apr. 2024

And the unexpected national cyberattack of Change Healthcare, owned by United Healthcare, which is the largest insurance payer at Jackson. —Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 18 Apr. 2024

Wednesday's outage comes on the heels of a widespread AT&T outage in February that left thousands without service across multiple states, and impacted some calls to 911 for hours, which the carrier said was likely caused by a process error — not a cyberattack. —Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 18 Apr. 2024

Israeli media outlets reported at the time that the facility had been targeted by a cyberattack carried out by the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, but Israel did not comment. —Sammy Westfall, Washington Post, 16 Apr. 2024

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI both assisted the company with investigating the outage, subsequently confirming there was no evidence of a cyberattack. —Ty Roush, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024

As the head of American counterintelligence, Mike Casey sees on a daily basis the scope of foreign spying operations, cyberattacks and economic espionage against the United States. —Ryan Lucas, NPR, 12 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1996, in the meaning defined above