4 lines
789 B
Plaintext
4 lines
789 B
Plaintext
letterbomb
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1. n. A piece of email containing live data intended to do nefarious things to the recipient's machine or terminal. It used to be possible, for example, to send s that would lock up some specific kinds of terminals when they are viewed, so thoroughly that the user must cycle power (see cycle , sense 3) to unwedge them. Under Unix, a can also try to get part of its contents interpreted as a shell command to the mailer. The results of this could range from silly to tragic; fortunately it has been some years since any of the standard Unix/Internet mail software was vulnerable to such an attack (though, as the Melissa virus attack demonstrated in early 1999, Microsoft systems can have serious problems). See also Trojan horse ; compare nastygram. 2. Loosely, a mailbomb.
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