time bomb Hear it!

time bomb Definition

time bomb

noun

  1. an explosive device connected to a timer that will set it off at a given moment
  2. any potentially destructive state of affairs

Time Bomb Hacker Definition
A type of logic bomb that is set-off—either once or at different intervals—at some preset time. Though much has been written about time bombs in fiction books, and tales exist about time bombs being set up in company computers by programmers about to be fired, few real such events have actually been reported. One incident apparently occurred in 1986 in the Soviet Union when an upset programmer at the Volga Automobile Plant planted a time bomb, halting production on the main assembly plant for a day (not coincidentally a week after the programmer went on vacation). The case received much media attention in the Soviet Union, in part because it was the first cracking case to make it to court there and the logic bomb exploit got the programmer a three-year prison sentence.

See Also: Logic Bomb.

Farlex, Inc. Time Bomb Definition. [Online, 2004.] Farlex, Inc. Website. http://computing-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/time%20bomb.
time bomb Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • tick: Are the costumed heroes of the Marvel Universe protectors or ticking time bombs?
  • defuse: Even some experts believe the normal cycle of machine and software upgrading over the next three years will defuse the time bomb.
  • walk: The bad news is that everyone will learn they are a walking time bomb, in one way, shape or form.
  • have: Even if the particular divisions over Respect are patched over, the CPB has a programmatic time bomb ticking away deep in its bowels.
  • set: Is the NOMAIL setting really a time bomb that may flood your mail directory unexpectedly?

Adjective modifier

  • demographic: The demographic time bomb - How will the EU be affected by the aging population?