Drive-by Download
Noun · Security & Infosec
Definitions
Drive-by Download is an attack technique in which an adversary delivers malware when a user visits a compromised page without an obvious installer. Defenders analyze it to understand prerequisites, affected trust boundaries, and likely telemetry, then reduce risk with layered controls such as validation, hardening, rate limits, segmentation, and high-quality logging for investigation and response.
In plain English: Drive-by Download is a way attackers abuse systems or trust relationships, and defenders counter it with better design, validation, monitoring, and layered controls.
Example: "During the assessment, the team simulated Drive-by Download against a staging service, confirmed the weakness with logs and telemetry, and then added tighter validation, safer defaults, and monitoring so the same technique would trigger an alert in production."