(Cross-Site Request Forgery) An online forgery that requires knowledge of which Internet-based institutions a person deals with. It is used to steal money or obtain valuable data such as credit card numbers. Also called an "XSRF," "sea surf" and "confused deputy attack," the CSRF is embedded in a fake link or bogus script on a Web page. In either case, the browser executes a malicious transaction such as a wire transfer to the cybercrook's bank.

The CSRF exploit only works if the user is already logged onto the institution's Web site that is being targeted or has recently logged on, in which case a stored cookie used for authentication may still be active. See XSS.