What is a Payload?


"Payload code", often simply called the "Payload", is the additional functionality present in Viruses, Worms or Trojan Horses: for instance data stealing, file deletion, disk overwriting, or BIOS flashing. Note that the payload does not necessarily have to be damaging: the payload of the Form virus was used to make the infected users keyboard make clicking noises on one day a month. In the case of a trojan, it is the secret function that the programmer wanted to achieve: the nasty surprise hidden inside the horse to continue the Trojan metaphor.