Crimeware

[1] 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 on behalf of the cyberthief.

[citation needed] 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 valuable, confidential information.

[2] 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".

One survey estimates that in 2005 organizations lost in excess of $30 million due to the theft of proprietary information.