What is the Payload of a virus?

The payload is what the computer virus is programmed to do. Some viruses do nothing more than copy themselves onto another PC, much like a real virus does from host to host. This is the simplest payload that a virus can have. However, just like viruses in nature, some computer viruses have a greater effect - maybe they steal files or data or allow someone else to take control over the PC while some will destroy some or all of the data on the computer. A virus can also have multiple payloads (in fact, any virus that does more than just spread has by default more than one payload) - perhaps it steals data and waits until some date in the future when it activates a new payload and deletes all the data on the drive or something similar.

First answer by SmA7X09. Last edit by SmA7X09. Contributor trust: 27 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 2 [recommend question]