Spyware

Spyware covertly gathers information about a user or system — browsing habits, credentials, files — and exfiltrates it to an attacker. Keyloggers are a high-impact subtype, and consumer spyware often rides along with “free” downloads. At the extreme, commercial/mercenary spyware like Pegasus uses zero-click, zero-day exploits to compromise fully patched phones in targeted surveillance, blurring the line between criminal malware and state tooling.