1. Software that does not benefit the computer's owner and may even damage his or her machine: Malware is said to consist of the following malignant or malicious kinds of harm to electronic devices which process information and has different programs: viruses, worms, wabbits, Trojans, spyware, backdoors, exploits, keyloggers, dialers, URL injectors, adware, etc.is said to consist of the following malignant or malicious kinds of harmful computer programs: viruses, worms, wabbits, Trojans, spyware, backdoors, exploits, keyloggers, dialers, URL injectors, adware, etc.
2. Etymology: a coined word made up of mal, "bad" + ware as in "software".