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SynAc
Term

Easter egg

"Hidden functionality within an application program, which becomes activated when an undocumented, and often convoluted, set of commands and keystrokes is entered. Easter eggs are typically used to display the credits for the development team and [are] intended to be non-threatening" [SP28], but Easter eggs have the potential to contain malicious code.

Senses

(O)

"Hidden functionality within an application program, which becomes activated when an undocumented, and often convoluted, set of commands and keystrokes is entered. Easter eggs are typically used to display the credits for the development team and [are] intended to be non-threatening" [SP28], but Easter eggs have the potential to contain malicious code.

Deprecated Usage: It is likely that other cultures use different metaphors for this concept. Therefore, to avoid international misunderstanding, IDOCs SHOULD NOT use this term. (See: Deprecated Usage under "Green Book".)

References
  • IETF RFC 4949 (Internet Security Glossary)Jan 06, 2026
    RFC 4949 — Internet Security Glossary (Version 2)
    https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4949.txt
    RFC 4949 is published by the IETF Trust and marked as "Distribution of this memo is unlimited". Verify IETF Trust copyright/licensing terms for reuse.
    Source: IETF RFC 4949 (rfc-editor.org).