Letter-bomb

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  letter bomb \let"ter bomb`\, letter-bomb \let"ter-bomb`\n.
     A bomb disguised as a letter and sent through the mail,
     usually rigged to explode and kill or harm the recipient when
     opened.
     [WordNet 1.5]



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  letter-bomb \letter-bomb\ v. t.
     to send a letter-bomb to.
     [WordNet 1.5]

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  letterbomb 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 letterbombs 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 letterbomb 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}.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  letterbomb
       
           1. An {e-mail} message containing {live data}
          intended to do nefarious things to the recipient's computer or
          terminal.  It is possible, for example, to send letterbombs
          that will lock up some specific kinds of terminals when they
          are viewed, so thoroughly that the user must turn the terminal
          off to unwedge it.  Under {Unix}, a letterbomb can also try to
          get part of its contents interpreted as a shell command.  The
          results of this could range from silly to tragic.
       
          See also {Trojan horse}; compare {nastygram}, {talk bomb}.
       
          2. Loosely, a {mailbomb}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1998-01-16)