A form of cyber attack encoded in innocuous-appearing data that is implemented by an individual or by software. A data-driven attack is a major concern to system administrators because it may get through the firewall in data form and spearhead an attack against a system located behind the firewall. For this reason, firewalls need to be programmed to recognize what data are allowed for any protected application to be able to counter this form of attack.

See Also: Exploit; Firewall.