shellcode

shellcode

Malware programming code that is injected covertly into the computer. The term originated from code that activates a command shell to exploit the computer (see command processor) but may refer to any machine language embedded in data that is used to compromise either the local machine or a remote machine. "English shellcode" intersperses bits and pieces of command statements within a large segment of normal English text. The pieces are decoded into formal shell commands by a Trojan. See shell script.

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