time bomb

time bomb
    n 1: a problematic situation that will eventually become
         dangerous if not addressed; "India is a demographic time
         bomb"; "the refugee camp is a ticking bomb waiting to go
         off" [syn: {time bomb}, {ticking bomb}]
    2: a bomb that has a detonating mechanism that can be set to go
       off at a particular time [syn: {time bomb}, {infernal
       machine}]
    

time bomb
 n.

   A subspecies of {logic bomb} that is triggered by reaching some preset
   time, either once or periodically. There are numerous legends about
   time bombs set up by programmers in their employers' machines, to go
   off if the programmer is fired or laid off and is not present to
   perform the appropriate suppressing action periodically.

   Interestingly, the only such incident for which we have been pointed
   to documentary evidence took place in the Soviet Union in 1986! A
   disgruntled programmer at the Volga Automobile Plant (where the Fiat
   clones called Ladas were manufactured) planted a time bomb which, a
   week after he'd left on vacation, stopped the entire main assembly
   line for a day. The case attracted lots of attention in the Soviet
   Union because it was the first cracking case to make it to court
   there. The perpetrator got a suspended sentence of 3 years in jail and
   was barred from future work as a programmer.
    

time bomb

   <software, security> A subspecies of {logic bomb} that is
   triggered by reaching some preset time, either once or
   periodically.  There are numerous legends about time bombs set
   up by programmers in their employers' machines, to go off if
   the programmer is fired or laid off and is not present to
   perform the appropriate suppressing action periodically.

   Interestingly, the only such incident for which we have been
   pointed to documentary evidence took place in the Soviet Union
   in 1986!  A disgruntled programmer at the Volga Automobile
   Plant (where the Fiat clones called Ladas were manufactured)
   planted a time bomb which, a week after he'd left on vacation,
   stopped the entire main assembly line for a day.  The case
   attracted lots of attention in the Soviet Union because it was
   the first cracking case to make it to court there.  The
   perpetrator got 3 years in jail.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (2001-09-15)
    

18 Moby Thesaurus words for "time bomb":
      aerial bomb, antipersonnel bomb, bomb, bombshell, carcass,
      concussion grenade, depth bomb, depth charge, fire bomb,
      gas grenade, grenade, hand grenade, incendiary bomb,
      incendiary grenade, infernal machine, petard, tear-gas grenade,
      wall grenade